Hero
by alias of a girl
Summary: When peace reins, the world's heroes are forgotten and cast aside. Lost and broken, they wander the worlds, shadows of their former selves. I swear to whatever gods are listening that I'll never forgive you if you run away from me again RxS language
1. Prologue: Jaded Sunshine

**Prologue - Jaded Sunshine**

Every once in a while, the worlds need a hero, and a hero will always rise to the occasion.  
But, what happens to those heroes once the worlds are at peace again?   
Irreversibly changed, they are cast aside...   
Lost and broken, the heroes of old wander the worlds, shadows of their former selves.

_-- begin --_

Sora was sitting on the dock, looking out over the water that stretched as far as the eyes could see. He was feeling a little restless. It had been six months since he'd returned to the islands. He'd found out that Tidus had never returned to the islands once it had been reformed, and he'd been spending a lot of time recently wondering where he was and what he was up to. Wishing that he was off doing something interesting too.

"What are you thinking about, Sora?" a low voice asked from behind him. Riku sat down next to him, pulling off his shoes and dangling his bare feet into the water.

Sora looked down. He was still too short for his feet to reach the water when he sat on the end of the dock like this, and he suspected that he wouldn't grow much more. He sighed. "I'm thinking about how much it sucks being short," he said flicking a piece of his crazy hair out of his face only to have it fall back and nearly poke him in the eye.

Riku laughed, but it sounded forced. It was a well practiced laugh, to be sure, and if anyone other than Sora had been sitting on the dock, it would have passed unnoticed, but Sora knew his silver haired friend far too well to think that his laughter was sincere. It hadn't been sincere, really, since just about the time they'd come back to the islands.

"You tell me what you're thinking about," Sora commanded, though his tone was casual. There was a long silence. When he didn't get an answer, he glowered at the older male. "I'm not kidding, Riku. Tell me what's wrong."

"It's nothing you can fix," Riku answered finally.

Sora scowled. "You _aaaalllllways_ say that," he scolded. "I'm sure there's something that I can do to help, even if it's just by listening to you vent."

"You already have the weight of the world on your shoulders. I'm not going to unload my own stupid problems on you."

"You're mad about how people are afraid of you," Sora murmured. This was always what Riku was angry about. Always. "They'll come around eventually, I know it." That was always what Sora said to try to make him feel better too. It never worked.

"No, Sora, they won't come around eventually. It's been six months. Even if they were going to start treating me like a person again, I don't know how much more of this I can take in the interim." Suddenly, the anger in Riku's aqua eyes softened. "Can't you see it? They treat you the same way they treat me. Sometimes I think it's worse. At least they don't hide their distain around me. With you, they pretend like they still love you…" His voice trailed off as hurt flashed across Sora's face.

"I don't want to talk about my problems. You're the one who's depressed," Sora said, his voice weak. He didn't like to be reminded that the people he so cared about were only pretending that they cared about him. He knew they feared him as much as they feared Riku, if not more, but he hid that fact way back in the back of his mind and pretended along with the best of them.

Riku smiled sadly. "We're both depressed, Sora. You're just better at hiding it." He offered the brunette a hand up, which Sora took gratefully.

"I figure that if I just keep pretending long enough, that it will become real," the younger whispered. He'd never told anyone that before.

Riku frowned. He felt like his heart was breaking in two. He'd never known just how much pain his little brunette was in. "Sora I…"

Sora interrupted him, a fire fueled by desperation burning brightly in his impossibly blue eyes. "The one thing, the only thing, in this world that I wish for, is for things to go back to the way they were before all the Heartless attack. I wish that things could go back to the way they were supposed to be," he said fiercely, his voice cracking with effort, as if his saying it with enough intensity would make it true.

Riku's words died in his throat. _Sora wants his old life back._ Pain mixed with resignation settled onto his face. He stared into Sora's eyes as if it would be the last time he would ever see those sky blue orbs, as if he were committing them to perfect memory, glaze of tears and all. Then he did something very strange. He reached out, caught Sora by the shoulders, and placed a single kiss on the sun-kissed skin of the brunette's forehead. "I hope you get what you wish for, Sora. You deserve it." With that, Riku turned around and walked away.

Sora watched his older friend walk down the beach and disappear out of sight. He wanted to call out to him, to tell him to wait, to tell him to come back. His breath caught in his lungs and his throat felt like it was closing, so his call came out as a nearly inaudible wheeze. For some indescribable reason, he was terrified that he was never going to see Riku again.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

The next morning, Sora woke up feeling agitated. He decided to walk to Riku's house and apologize for the fight. Something in his mind was telling him that it hadn't really been a fight, but he didn't care. He just needed an excuse to go see Riku. As he rounded to corner onto Riku's street, he nearly walked into Kairi. He was more than relieved to see her; she was the only one, other than Riku, who didn't pretend that she cared about him. It was even better to see that she was alone. She didn't pretend that the cared, but often, when others were around, she pretended like she didn't care, for fear of being outcasted as Sora and Riku were. She looked afraid.

"Have you seen Riku?" she asked quickly.

Sora's heart felt like it had stopped. He sputtered out the words even though his mind was telling him that her question didn't mean it was true. "He…he's gone…" he breathed. His whole body ached. He didn't have anyone left. There was Kairi, but no matter how much she loved him, he knew that she would give that up in an instant for the security that the Islands offered.

Kairi knew what he was thinking. "You have to go…" she whispered.

"There's nothing left for me here." Sora's eyes were blank, like he was in too much pain to be able to express it.

"I know. Promise you'll never forget me."

"I promise." He started walking away, looking mechanical. He was sure that if he allowed himself to feel, he would collapse.

"I still love you…" Kairi whispered, but Sora was long gone.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

A brunette sat very still on the sandy beach, ignoring the water washing around his shoes and soaking his socks. He was concentrating very hard on not feeling anything. He knew he couldn't handle the pain. His eyes fell on the horizon, and suddenly, darkness began to eat away at the edges of his vision. He wondered vaguely if he was going to pass out. He felt for a split second like he was being ripped in two, and then it passed, as if it had never happened in the first place. Except now there were two heartbeats on that beach.

"What did Riku do to you?" Roxas asked, panting. He was clutching at his chest, as if in physical pain.

Sora looked up at him, sad eyes not really seeing him.

Suddenly, Roxas understood. "He left," he stated, sitting down next to the other half of himself. "I couldn't stand staying joined with you. It hurt too much."

"My broken heart too painful for you to handle?" Sora asked bitterly.

Roxas frowned. Sora was not bitter. He was a lot of things, but bitter wasn't one of them. "I have to get you out of here," he announced. "Staying here to drown in your memories isn't going to help you. We're leaving."

Sora nodded. He would let Roxas lead the way. He didn't care how they left, or where they were going. Only that they were going. He couldn't stand to be on the Islands anymore. Maybe he would come back some day, when it didn't hurt so much. Maybe, while they were gone, they would find Riku… but he couldn't allow himself to hope. If he didn't have wishes and hopes, then no one could dash them.

And thus, Sora of the sky, the eternal sunshine, became jaded.


	2. Prologue: Another Side

**Prologue the Second: Another Side, Another Story**

So cordial, so rotten…

_- begin - reverse -_

Riku blew his hair out of his face, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking down the road from his house towards Sora's. Certainly the brunette was up long before Riku was, as Sora was an early riser and Riku was most definitely a fan of sleeping until at least noon, but he knew that Sora might still be home, or at least someone at his house would know where the younger boy would be. He turned a corner, and encountered a small group of girls who were walking toward him. He scowled when they froze at the sight of them.

"Good morning ladies," he greeted, trying to be civil.

"Ri-Riku," one of them sputtered, nearly walking into one of her friends. Another let out a high-pitched, nervous giggle. The rest of them scrambled to subtly move away from him, though they didn't succeed so much in being subtle.

Riku bit back the anger that was boiling in him. What did he do to deserve being treated this way? Why were they so terrified of him? He yanked one of his hands out of his pockets as he passed them: a swift flash of movement. He smirked as the girls shrank back from him as if afraid that he would hit them, and ran his fingers through his silver hair. He got some sort of sick amusement out of using their misplaced fears of him to make them cower. He wondered idly if this was some remnant of the darkness residing within him.

"Did you _see that?!_" one of the girls whispered when she thought Riku was out of earshot.

"I know! I don't know why those two ever came back," another girl said cuttingly. Normally, Riku didn't let the words bother him, but that comment was far crueler than he was used to. He could feel his face twist into a grimace.

A third girl launched into some exaggerated version of Riku's tragic fall into darkness. He knew the story: He was drawn to the darkness by the power it offered, and he fought even his own friends to further his own power. He apparently dragged Sora into the darkness with him when the Keybearer tried to save him, and finally, by some miracle, they were pulled back out of the darkness and lived their lives out as tainted rejects in the light. The details were always altered as the story-teller saw fit, but that was always the essence of the story.

Riku stuffed his hands back into his pockets and wondered if he had exceptionally good hearing, or those girls really didn't have any idea how far their voices carried. He could hear the shrieking voice of the story-telling girl as she reached the climax of her story, blocks away. He was walking along the docks, and could see a small figure sitting out on the docks of the Island, alone. He knew instantly who it was.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Riku beached his boat, and walked towards the dock. He grinned at the expression on Sora's face: his eyebrows were furrowed and he was staring at the horizon with his eyes practically bulging out of his head. Sora looked restless, and he fidgeted where he sat.

"What are you thinking about, Sora?" he asked, pulling his shoes off. He sat down and dangled his feet in the water.

_I'm going to miss the ocean. Water is so forgiving. Not like people._

Sora sighed. "I'm thinking about how much it sucks being short," he answered, sounding grumpy.

Riku let out a laugh. He could see Sora from out of the corner of his eye and could tell that the younger boy wasn't buying it. Sora could always see through his insincerities. It occurred to Riku that maybe that was why he had remained friends with him for so long, no matter what happened. But at the same time, he sometimes – like right now – wished that Sora couldn't see through his mask, because he knew what would be out of the brunette's mouth next.

"_You_ tell _me_ what you're thinking about," he said. His voice was calm and relaxed, but Riku could hear the commanding tone beneath. Of course, it was a question that Riku would not answer. The silver haired male almost laughed when Sora tried to glower at him. The brunette was the furthest thing from intimidating.

"I'm not kidding, Riku. Tell me what's wrong."

Riku let out a long breath. There was many things wrong, but he hated to tell Sora about them, because Sora would get upset and it was pointless to dampen his spirits when there wasn't a thing in the world he could do to help.

"Nothing you can fix," Riku answered finally. He kept his eyes on the horizon, refusing to look at Sora; his resolve would break if he did.

"You _aaaalllllways_ say that," Sora answered, his frustration obvious in his voice. "I'm sure there's something that I can do to help, even if it's just by listening to you vent," he continued, trying to help.

Riku's expression softened. He frowned and his eyes fell to the water at his feet. He knew that the only way to end his hurt was the leave the source: the Islands. He contemplated leaving the Islands a lot, though he never told Sora that. He never ended up leaving, because being separate from his last connection to humanity was infinitely worse than the abuse he endured at the hands of the other Islanders. And so, he would not add to Sora's problems, because Sora already did so much for him simply by being there.

"You already have the weight of the world on your shoulders. I'm not going to unload my own stupid problems on you," Riku answered finally.

"You're mad about how people are afraid of you," Sora said quietly. Riku could see him wringing his wrists with his hands out of the corner of his eye, and wondered how Sora had guess. Then he smirked, bitter; how could Sora not know? It was always the same thing that Riku was upset about.

"They'll come around eventually, I know it."

Those words hit Riku hard. Sora really didn't know just how terribly the other Islanders were to him. He was tempted for a moment to tell Sora about the girl who had wished that they'd never come back to taint their islands paradise, but cast aside the idea as soon as he thought it. Reminded of the girls he'd met on his way, his anger was rekindled, and he looked Sora in the eye.

"No, Sora, they won't come around eventually. It's been six months. Even if they were going to start treating me like a person again, I don't know how much more of this I can take in the interim!" It took all the self-control Riku had to keep his voice from raising into a shout. He took a deep breath, and it occurred to him that the girl had said that she wished _both of them_ had stayed away. "Can't you see it? They treat you the same way they treat me. Sometimes I think it's worse. At least they don't hide their distain around me. With you, they pretend like they still love you…" he said, regretting his words as soon as they were out of his mouth. The look of pain on Sora's face was almost as painful for Riku to see as it was for Sora to experience.

"I don't want to talk about my problems. You're the one who's depressed," Sora answered.

Riku frowned. He wanted nothing more than to take back his words. How could he have been so cruel? He was momentarily at a loss for words, before he decided that the least he could do was share the brunette's pain. "We're both depressed, Sora. You're just better at hiding it," he offered, scolding himself silently for not being any better at comforting.

"I figure that if I just keep pretending long enough, that it will become real," Sora said sadly.

Riku froze. The Sora he knew was a vibrant person, endlessly more precious to him than anyone else on these Islands. He was _not _going to let the people here destroy Sora. Riku set his jaw stubbornly, and decided it wouldn't bother him in the least to leave the Islands if Sora came with him…

"Sora, I…" he began, before the little brunette interrupted him.

"The one thing, the only thing, in this world that I wish for, is for things to go back to the way they were before all the Heartless attack. I wish that things could go back to the way they were supposed to be," Sora said, his voice cracking with exertion.

Riku felt his heart sink. Sora wanted to stay. Of course Sora wanted to stay. This was his home. But it wasn't Riku's anymore, and now that he'd decided finally to leave, he couldn't bring himself to go back on his decision. He watched Sora for a long time, etching the face of his light into his mind. He had no idea how long it would be until he saw the brunette again. On instinct, he grabbed Sora by the shoulders and planted a kiss on his forehead. He surprised even himself with that. Sora's eyes were wide when he pulled away, the tears spilling out of the sky blue orbs.

"I hope you get what you wish for, Sora. You deserve it."

With that, Riku left. Something inside him screamed at Sora to call out, to tell him to stop, to tell him to wait, but it never came. And Riku was sure he would never come back.


	3. Chapter 1

'Lo all! Welcome to the first _real_ chapter of 'Hero'! This chapter occurs three years after the events of Kingdom Hearts 2, and about two and a half years after the events of the prologue.

**Chapter 1**

The eternal sunset bathed the plateau in golden light. A wooden fence ran around the outside of the hilltop that looked out over the terrace and the train tracks. Two figures sat on that fence. One had brown hair that stuck out at odd angles, but was long enough that the weight of it helped tame it a little. He was wearing a black leather jacket over a gray sweatshirt, baggy jeans and three studded belts. He had three tarnished silver earrings piercing the cartilage of one ear, and a permanent scowl on his face. His once bright blue eyes were glazed over with pain, with the look of someone whose broken heart hadn't yet healed.

The other figure was a blond, more relaxed than the other. He blew his windswept hair out of his bright blue eyes; his eyes were brighter and livelier than his companion's; he was not in so much pain. He had on a jacket that looked like it came from an army surplus store, with a plain black t-shirt underneath and a pair of blue jeans. He was swinging his feet slightly as he sat and watched the endless sunset.

The brunette reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. He stuck it in his mouth and began to rummage through his pockets for a lighter, sighing in faint frustration when he couldn't find one.

The blonde glowered at him. "Smoking's bad for you, Sora," he stated, reaching out to grab the cigarette, but Sora pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and snapped it in half between in fingers first.

"What do you care what I do, Roxas?" he asked in reply.

Roxas smirked. "I share a heart with you. How can I _not_ care?"

"Whatever," Sora answered, sounding bored. He looked over his shoulder and then in one quick, smooth movement, he vaulted off the fence, landing gracefully on the ground. He tugged on the chain that hung from his hips, attached to which were all of his keychains.

Roxas climbed off after him, stuffing his hands into his pockets and watching Sora intently. "Going back to the hotel?" he asked off-handedly.

Sora shook his head. "Let's go find Hayner and the rest of them," he suggested.

Roxas shrugged, looking uncomfortable. He never felt at ease around the Twilight Town gang, not after finding out that his friendship with them was never real.

Sora seemed to pick up on Roxas's discomfort, and sighed. "Or we could go to the old mansion…" he said slowly.

Roxas grinned sheepishly. He loved the White Room there, because his own story, which felt so strangely unfamiliar to him, was plastered all over the walls and it seemed to act as proof that his time as a member of Organization XIII really happened.

The strange pair made their way slowly through the town, making a leisurely pace through the streets as they walked slowly towards the old mansion on the other side of the forest. They were walking across the Tram Plaza, when they encountered a group of three, none of whom they really wanted to see.

"Well, well, well. Isn't it a little later for you to be out wandering? It's a little suspicious," Seifer told them, hands on his hips. Sora stared blankly at him.

"How can you tell that it's late? I mean, it's always sunset," he commented, his sarcasm so subtle that it was hard to tell that it was even there.

"Clocktower," Fujin answered bluntly.

Seifer crossed his arms. "So, care to explain what you're up to so late at night?" he demanded, his mouth forming an aggressive smirk.

Roxas glowered at him. "Care to explain why we have to tell you?"

"Well, as this town's disciplinary committee, we need to keep a close eye on any suspicious activity. We've deemed you suspicious," Seifer told them smugly.

Sora narrowed his eyes, his mouth forming a thin line. He summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at Seifer's face. "Then you'll turn a blind eye to us and continue on your way. You know the deal, Seifer. You leave us alone, we leave you alone. Now, I think it's time you were on your way," he said threateningly.

Seifer scowled at him, but motioned for Fujin and Raijin to follow him as he spun around and marched away.

Roxas shook his head. "He hates the fact that he can't control us, you know," he noted, starting to walk in the direction of the mansion again.

Sora nodded. "I know. We've been stuck here for, what, six months now? Why can't he just get over the fact that we're just too good for him?" he asked, his expression cracking into a rare smile.

Roxas grinned at him and disappeared through the passage, into the forest. A smile still lingered on Sora's face as he followed.

……………

Roxas walked into the White Room and let out a long breath that he didn't know he was holding in. It always felt strange in this room, like he was stepping out of himself and watching his life as an outsider. He walked over to one of the pictures, and image of himself and Sora, hand in hand.

"You know, I didn't understand this picture when Namine first showed it to me," he said. "It took me a long time to understand the kind of effect that it would have when I finally got to meet you. That's why I left Organization XIII. To meet you, I mean. It was kind of strange when I finally met you the first time, but it was worth it." He paused, inspecting the fine details of the image. "What did you think, when you first met me?" he asked, without turning around to face his companion. There was a long silence, and Roxas turned, surprised to find that Sora wasn't there anymore. "Sora?"

Sora found himself standing in front of the thin laser, the entrance into the virtual Twilight Town. He always did whenever he came to the mansion. He knew that at one time, just on the other side, was the entrance to the World That Never Was. He couldn't get there now, as the computer that held all of the information for the virtual Twilight Town had been smashed. But still, he couldn't help but think that it was so close… He didn't mind Twilight Town, because at least people here didn't pretend to love him. They viewed him with a distant respect, but that was it. There was no faked intimacy. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder that if he went to the World That Never Was, if he could find other outcasts, maybe they might treat him like a person, like a real person.

"Sora?" Roxas's voice rang out from behind him. The blond walked into the room. He didn't look surprised at finding Sora here. He never did. He always found Sora here.

"Hey Rox. Sorry I left you up there by yourself," he said, sounding distracted.

Roxas let out a low laugh. "Usually you give me at least five minutes before you ditch me," he said, sounding amused.

Sora shrugged, mumbling something incomprehensible. Then he let out a long sigh and ran a tan hand through his cinnamon hair. "There has to be something interesting to do around here," he complained.

Roxas crossed his arms. He knew that Sora was getting restless over having to stay on one planet for so long. They'd been traveling together for two and a half years since they left the Islands, but while they were staying in Twilight Town, the paths between the worlds were finally closed completely, and they'd been stuck ever since.

"Maybe…" Roxas began slowly. He stopped as a loud bang echoed through the old mansion and the ground started to shake. It only lasted for a second or two, but by the time it was over, both Sora and Roxas had their keyblades in hand, and were half-stumbling towards the stairs. Once the ground stilled beneath them, they sprinted towards the stairs, racing outside the mansion as quickly as possible. They burst outside and stopped in the overgrown front yard.

"What happened?" Sora asked breathlessly, looking wildly around. Nothing looked changed. Nothing had been damaged by the violent shaking. Nothing looked different.

After a moment of tense silence, Roxas relaxed a little. "Maybe it was just an earthquake," he suggested.

Sora frowned. "Since when does Twilight Town get earthquakes? And I thought that earthquakes lasted longer than that," he said slowly, still gripping his keyblade. The weight was comforting in his hand.

"I dunno," Roxas answered. "Let's go ask Hayner and Pence and Olette. They might know. The virtual Twilight Town that I lived in didn't have earthquakes, but this one might," he suggested.

Sora nodded and they headed back through the forest, towards the Usual Spot. As they reemerged in the Tram Common, Pence came running around the corner, spotted them, and ran towards them with renewed vigor. He got closer, and they noticed the terrified look on his face.

Roxas leapt into action, running towards him. "Pence! What's wrong?!" he demanded, skidding to a stop between Pence and whatever was chasing him. Pence didn't stop running until he reached Sora. The look of fear never left his face, but he was breathing so heavily that he couldn't bring himself to speak.

Hayner, holding Olette by the wrist and pulling her along behind him, showed up a second later. "Help!" he shouted, looking over his shoulder at something behind him.

Seconds after that, Seifer and his gang came racing around that same corner. They looked beat up; they'd clearly tried to fight whatever it was that was chasing them. A cat-like creature leapt out from around the corner and chased after them, pouncing on Fujin, who was the furthest behind. She fell, the force of the attack throwing her to the ground.

Roxas, the closest, raced forward and smashed his keyblade across the gruesome face of the creature. Its wide yellow eyes made his heart stop for a moment. "Heartless!" he barked out, swinging his weapon and knocking it clear off Fujin. He raced after it, Keyblade high and poised to strike.

Sora raced past Roxas and Fujin, throwing gravity magic at another pair of Heartless running around the corner towards them.

Hayner and Olette crept forward and each grabbed one of Fujin's arms, helping her towards the group huddling on the road a distance away from the fighting.

Roxas took down his Heartless, just as Sora knocked one of the two attacking him towards his blond counterpart. It took each of them only moments to finish of those two, and, breathing hard, they looked at each other.

"Where the _hell_ did those come from?" Sora asked, wiping a sheen of sweat off his forehead.

Roxas threw his Keyblade against a brick wall. "I thought all those things were dead!" he growled. He summoned it back to his hand, and sliced it through the air. Then, he turned to look at the group trembling down the road, all leaned over the prone body of Fujin.

Sora walked up to them, Roxas on his heels. "Move," he ordered. Seifer and Olette stepped aside to let Sora through. He stood over Fujin and touched the tip of his keyblade to her collarbone. He shut his eyes and mumbled something, and a white light flashed from the point where metal touched flesh.

Fujin groaned and opened her eyes. She blinked, bleary eyed, up at the brunette still standing over her. "Thanks," she muttered, closing her eyes again.

Sora nodded once, looking up at the sky. An image of a keyhole was flickering in the clouds. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Roxas looking up at it as well. He lifted his keyblade, pointing it at the keyhole, Roxas following suit. A ribbon of light shot out of the two keys, colliding with the keyhole. It shattered, and the two pairs of blue eyes met. The Heartless had unlocked their own shadow passages, and now Sora and Roxas had unlocked their own passageways between the worlds.

"We're out of here," Sora said quietly, the sense of relief barely audible, but still Roxas knew it was there. He knew Sora was itching to leave. "If the Heartless are here, we'd better go see where else they've attacked," he said. Then he froze. "The Islands… I have to go back. I have to make sure that the Heartless haven't hit the Islands yet." The stress was obvious in his voice.

Roxas nodded. No matter how jaded Sora seemed, no matter how little he seemed to care, he knew that those people, those people who treated Sora like he wasn't even a person, those people still meant more to the brunette than he'd ever let on.

"You're leaving?" Olette asked, her voice small. She didn't want them to leave. The Heartless were attacking, and they, the only two who could be depended on to protect them, were leaving.

"We have to," Roxas told her apologetically. "There are many planets out there, and as it stands now, we're the only ones who can protect them all. We have to go find the source of the Heartless and stop them there."

"I know…" Olette answered, frowning. She knew it was true, but it didn't make her feel any safer.

Already, Roxas and Sora were walking away. They were walking towards the train station.

"Yen Sid might know something about what's going on," Sora said, sounding distracted. He was still tense with stress. "And he'll know what passages have been opened. He'll be able to tell us the fastest way back to the Islands," he added.

"But you know that he'll tell you to go to Disney Castle first. You're duty as the Keyblade Master is to the worlds as a whole, not just your home world," Roxas reminded him.

Sora let out a bitter laugh. "Right, but you know what? I don't care what my duty is anymore. I'm done with all that. He'll tell me to go to Disney Castle, but I won't listen," he answered.

Roxas just nodded, knowing full well that in the end, he and Sora would eventually end up at Disney Castle with a mandate to save the world again. It just might take them a little longer to get there this time around, because this time, they were doing things their own way.


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sora stretched his legs, stepping off the train and looking around. He half expected to see Pete peeking through the doors of the crooked tower again. This time, the front steps were empty, the door closed tight. He let out a long, aggravated sigh and motioned for Roxas to follow him. The pair walked up the front steps and pushed on the door. It swung open easily, and Sora almost fell through it. He had been expecting the door to be heavier than it was. The front entryway was empty and silent.

"Yen Sid? Yen Sid! We need to talk to you about the passages between the worlds!" Sora shouted. Even though the wizard lived high up at the top of the tower, he knew that the old man could hear him. There was no reply, but he wasn't really expecting one. He climbed up the first flight of stairs and pulled open the door. To his surprise, it led directly into Yen Sid's room.

The aging wizard was sitting at his desk, eyebrows furrowed. He was concentrating on the thick tome sitting open on his desk, and showed no acknowledgement of Sora's presence.

Roxas stepped into the room after him. "You're Yen Sid? We have some questions about the new passageways," he said.

Sora elbowed him. "Shut up for a sec," he ordered, waiting patiently for Yen Sid to finish whatever it was that he was doing.

Roxas stared at him. He realized just how much respect Sora had for the wizard.

Yen Sid looked up from his work. "Welcome Sora," he greeted slowly. He opened his mouth to continue, but the large green door burst open and three fairies came flying into the room.

"SORA!"

"Oh dear, how are you?"

"My, my, it's been far too long!"

Flora, Fauna and Merryweather all landed in a circle around the bewildered brunette.

Sora tried to wave them off. "Yeh, yeh, good to see you," he muttered, impatient for them to back off so he could talk to Yen Sid.

"What happened to that outfit we gave you?" Flora asked.

"Yes, where is it?" Faunu wondered.

"It was so flattering!" Merryweather gushed. They weren't angry that he wasn't wearing it, just curious.

"I lost it," Sora muttered in reply.

"You lost _control_ of it," Roxas corrected pointedly, ignoring the glare Sora shot at him.

"What do you mean?" Flora asked.

Sora crossed his arms. "I lost control of the drive. At first I started driving into antiform every once in while when I tried to drive into something else, but it started happening more and more until every time I tried to drive, I'd end up in antiform. Then once, I completely lost control and ended up driving into antiform when I wasn't even fighting anything. I attacked Roxas. As soon as I regained control of myself, I borrowed some of Roxas's clothes and we got rid of mine."

"OH NO! Oh Sora, we're so sorry!" Merryweather said, frowning. "Oh how could we have been so careless with the magic! Our sincerest apologies! So sorry! Oh, I feel terrible!" she cried, horrified. She continued spewing out a series of mundane apologies.

"Merryweather," Yen Sid said gently.

She stopped in mid-sentence to look at him. "Yes sir?"

"We understand that you feel badly about the drive incident, but I can assure you that it is in no way your fault. Now, I'd like to speak with Sora, so if you please…" and with a sweeping motion, he indicated the large green doors through which the fairies had entered.

"Of course," Fauna said, leading the others through the doors and pulling them magically closed behind them.

Sora relaxed visibly. Those fairies were far too…perky. It made him entirely uncomfortable.

Yen Sid folded his hand in front of him. "Now, I understand that the passageways between the worlds have opened once again. You will have to reopen each passage again, as you did last time."

"Which passageways can we use?" Sora asked.

"All of them. They've all opened. It is rather…strange. A few of the passages have been opening and closing themselves ever since they were locked. I would have thought that the pattern would have been random, but in actuality, it has formed a path, weaving along all of the planets. It had reached each planet at least once, and the reopening of the pathway between here and the Land of the Dragons is what allowed the Heartless into Twilight Town. I believe that the opening and closing of the paths corresponds to the use of the dark passages that the Heartless and Nobodies used."

"So wait, you think that a Heartless or a Nobody has been using the dark passages between the planets for the past six months?" Sora asked, surprised.

"Who was it?" Roxas asked, voicing the question on all of their minds. There was a long silence.

Yen Sid exhaled, slumping down in his chair and looking older than ever. "I wish I knew who it was. It would be most helpful to know whether or not this character jumping between worlds could be considered an ally or enemy," he said, sounding the slightest bit frustrated. "Ever since the passages have re-opened, there has been a disturbing amount of Heartless activity. I trust you know that you need to go to Disney Castle to speak with the King, first and foremost."

Sora cleared his throat and set his jaw. "I'm going to the Destiny Islands first and foremost. I won't be long there, but the King can't expect me at Disney Castle until at least tomorrow," he said simply. He continued before Yen Sid could argue. "Now, I don't think we should keep the King waiting any longer than he has to, so we should be off," he added, his tone revealing that arguing with him would be useless. It was clear that nothing could be said that would change his mind.

Yen Sid sighed. "Very well, then."

There was a long silence. Roxas scrunched up his nose in thought. "Where did the Heartless all come from? I take it that this means those four weren't just a handful that managed to hide out all this time from the days of Xemnas."

"Maleficent," Yen Sid answered simply.

Sora growled. "Shit! I knew it was a bad idea to let them deal with that Heartless attack. I mean, damnit, she _told_ us what she would do once it was all over!"

Yen Sid nodded. "She has raised an army of Heartless in the World that Never Was, and is now unleashing it on the world. All she was waiting for was the reopening of the passages."

"Which, of course, I did," Sora said, laughing bitterly. "I guess I always knew that I was always only ever a pawn of the powers that be."

"You've changed a great deal since I last saw you." Yen Sid said gravely. "You never doubted before that your actions were the right ones. Indeed, they were, but it never occurred to you that your actions would aid your enemies. Something you must understand, Sora, is that no matter what actions you take, your enemies would use them against you. You are far too valuable, far too powerful, not to have people try to use you. No matter what actions you take, someone will use malice and deception to increase their own power. Now, though, now you have seen the effects of your previous actions, and you can see that no matter what you do, someone will use you against you or those you love. You act now as your own master. No one can command you, and you will be pleased to know that it will make it exceptionally difficult for your enemies to manipulate you, but at the same time, I will warn you that it will be much more painful for you when your own actions seemingly cause you to play into your enemies' hands. I can assure you that it _will_ happen, because I can assure you that no matter how your life plays out, your enemies will always seem to have their hands waiting for you in the end." He paused, thoughtfully rubbing his beard. "How old are you, Sora?"

"Eighteen."

Yen Sid shook his head. "Far too young to be learning such lessons. Far too young."

"Nothing I can do about it now. We should go," Sora answered. His voice sounded harsh, his politeness forced. He wanted to pretend that everyone's life involved the same hardships and pain that his own did. It wasn't fair that he was forced to live with such an aching heart and spend his life fighting to protect those people who wounded him in the first place.

Yen Sid pointed gracefully at a doorway. "Your ship awaits. Go to the Islands first if you must, but please be quick and make your way to Disney Castle as quickly as possible."

"Will do," Sora answered, waving his hand at the wizard and walking with Roxas towards the gummiship.

The ship was fairly standard. Sora circled around it, looking over the weapons and defenses.

"I'm sorry Yen Sid was so rude to you," he said to Roxas as he finished up his mini-inspection. He leaned against the front of the ship and watched his companion with shielded eyes.

Roxas frowned, confused. "Rude?" he asked, not understanding.

"He completely ignored you. It was like you weren't even there."

"That's because I'm really not there. I don't really exist, remember? I'm not supposed to exist."

"I don't care whether or not you're supposed to exist. You do, and it's not fair that people act like you're not even there!" Sora shouted, clearly angry now.

"Seriously, Sora, it's no big deal. You get used to it," Roxas answered, trying to soothe the brunette.

"The same way I get used to people being afraid of me?" Sora asked in reply, his tone bitingly sarcastic.

Roxas went quiet, stepping into the gummiship without saying another word.

Sora got in after him, sighing. The engine roared to life as he sat down in the pilot's seat. "Look, I'm sorry I snapped. But don't just brush it off. It's not fair, the way people treat you."

"It's better than the way people treat you."

"Maybe," Sora muttered disbelievingly. The gummiship pulled away from the planet, floating out into the space between planets. Sora gripped the controls as a series of Heartless ships formed an assault almost instantly. This was going to be a long, long journey.

The ship glided through the space, deftly avoiding the smaller rocks that spun through the emptiness between the larger asteroids floating throughout the passageway between the planets.

Sora was sitting at the controls, taking a deep breath between the waves of Heartless attacks. Silence stretched as he waited for Roxas, who was navigating, to announce that another wave of Heartless was on its way.

"Sora…" the blonde said warningly. He didn't continue.

"What?" Sora asked impatiently. There was still no answer, and he twisted around in his seat, narrowly avoiding a rock as it glided overhead. He realized why Roxas wasn't answering once he laid eyes on the radar. There were so many Heartless on the way that each attacking ship couldn't be discerned from the other. He swore loudly, and gunned the accelerator. The ship launched forward, snapping Roxas out of his shocked stupor.

"Heartless on all sides. Looks like a break might be forming at two o'clock," he said, his voice shaking.

Sora growled some indiscernible answer and yanked on the throttle. The ship lurched again, and he guided it upward, and to the right. The Heartless ships were becoming visible. There was a wall of them on all sides. Sora had never in his life seen so many Heartless ships at once.

"Holy shit," he choked out, freezing momentarily at the sheer mass of the onslaught. He shook himself out of his trance and pulled up. The gummiship shot upwards, towards an asteroid. Immediately, the Heartless ships altered directions and followed. The ship spiraled towards the rock, shooting closer and closer to the granite wall.

Roxas gulped, staring with wide eyes at the ever nearing asteroid. "Sora…" he said slowly, wondering for a moment if the brunette even realized how close he was taking them to the rock face.

Suddenly, Sora pulled up and the gummiship flipped upside down, racing along the rock face back in the direction they came. There was a loud explosion behind them as a handful of the Heartless ships leading the chase collided with the asteroid. The ships behind them were caught in the blast and destroyed as well. A handful of laser bullets shot past the gummiship. It rolled to the left, out of the path of further attacks. One of the bullets just grazed the wing.

"Roxas, take the gun controls," Sora ordered, looking over his shoulder at the regrouped Heartless that had started following them again. A flurry of further shots whipped past them, one hitting the asteroid and causing a shower of stone. Sora rolled the ship out of the way and re-oriented it right ride up to give Roxas a chance to move to the gunner controls. He hit a few buttons, overriding pilot controls and giving Roxas control over the guns. As soon as Roxas was buckled back in, Sora pushed the throttle down, slowing the gummiship suddenly and considerably.

Roxas stared at Sora, panicked. He could see the Heartless ships closing the distance between them very quickly. Sora had his eyes closed, and Roxas was tempted to lean over and hit him. "Sora!" he choked. "Are you suicidal or something?!"

Sora's eyes snapped back open, and he pulled suddenly upward. The ship tilted itself straight up and Sora yanked the throttle back again, shooting the ship forward. They launched into a small cave in the asteroid, winding through the rock. The Heartless ships flew by below as the gummiship burst out of the top side of the asteroid into clear space. They could see the Islands, not far away from where they were.

"I'm a bit of a daredevil I guess, but not suicidal. Not yet, anyway," he answered.

Roxas would have been furious with him, but the cheeky grin on Sora's face was a rare enough sight that it wiped all anger away instantly. He sighed.

"It's good to see that being a complete idiot can still make you happy," he admitted finally, giving his head a shake and shooting down the handful of Heartless ships that had managed to follow them.

"My idiocy saved your sorry ass," Sora commented arrogantly.

Roxas laughed. "That's good, but you're still stupid as hell."

Hurray! I'm so glad that everyone is so excited! Make sure to review all!


	5. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sora and Roxas were sitting on the docks of the Island. Sora had his pant legs rolled up and his feet dangling in the water. He sighed, remembering the last time he was here, sitting like this. Apparently he'd grown taller after all.

Roxas was sitting cross legged on the edge of the dock, looking out over the water.

Sora twisted around to face the blonde. "I told you landing on the Island was a bad idea. We don't have a boat to get to the mainland from here," he said, though his tone seemed fairly relaxed. He yawned, wondering how to get his hands on a boat. Then there was a loud splash and a wall of water came down on him.

Roxas was treading water near the end of the dock, grinning. His t-shirt and jacket were sitting in a pile on the end of the dock, damp from the splash. "I'll swim to the mainland and steal us a boat! Watch my stuff."

"Roxas, wait!" Sora began, but gave up when the blonde went underwater. He knew he couldn't be heard, so he stood up and gathered Roxas's discarded clothes. He walked down to the beach and laid them out on the sand to dry as much as they could while he waited. He pulled off his leather jacket and left it on the beach next to Roxas's things. It was far too hot here, certainly warmer than her remembered it being. Then again, his memory didn't tend to be terribly accurate with things like temperature. He ran his fingers through his hair, looking around and frowning when his lengthy bangs fell back into his eyes. A shriek and a thud drew his attention. He spun around, his Keyblade instantly in his hands. A little kid was sitting on the sand just below the bridge, laughing uproariously. He was small with shaggy black hair. His friend was standing on the bridge, looking down at the little boy, laughing just as hard. Sora let out his breath, relaxing as he realized that the noise was only the play of the children. The kid standing on the bridge noticed him down the beach, with his towering shadow, his cold expression and his Keyblade in his tense hand. The little boy froze, surprised and afraid. The boy with black hair sitting on the sand noticed his friend's fear and twisted around. Sora's eyes met those of the little boy and he bit down on his tongue. The boy was almost a perfect reflection of himself as a child: innocence and optimism. He was torn; warn the boy of the pain to come, or leave him be and hope that his life wasn't so wrought with hurt as his own?

"Sora!" Roxas shouted into the brunette's ear. He started laughing when Sora jumped away from him and swore loudly. He looked over towards the bridge, where Sora's eyes had been trained, and saw the two kids. The boy standing on the bridge jumped down and whispered to his friend, his eyes wide and staring at Sora. Roxas suspected that the boy recognized Sora's name from somewhere.

"You know that kid?" he asked after a moment.

Hand still held over his ear, Sora frowned at him. "No, why?"

"Dunno, looked like he recognized you," Roxas answered simply.

Sora looked up at him, surprised, and then looked back over towards the bridge. The two boys had disappeared somewhere. He scooped up Roxas's clothes and threw them at the blonde. "Clothe yourself. You're pale skin is scaring the children," he said.

Roxas pulled his shirt on over his head and punched Sora in the arm. "I'm not pale!"

Sora grabbed Roxas by the arm and pointed at the difference in their skin tones. "Rox, I'm like ten times darker than you," he said smugly.

"You aren't even that much darker. And I can't help it if you're freakishly tan," Roxas answered, shoving Sora into the boat, grinning.

Sora stumbled into the boat and picked up the oars. Roxas climbed in after him, pulling his jacket on as he sat down.

"Row, slave!" Roxas commanded, lifting his hands dramatically to the sky.

Sora splashed the oar through the water, re-soaking Roxas's already wet jeans.

"…please?" Roxas added belatedly, crossing his arms in front of his face to guard against a second watery attack that he was sure was coming.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Sora crossed his arms, standing with Roxas in front of the small Destiny Islands High School.

"Everything looks way smaller than I remember," he noted, sounding mildly disoriented.

Roxas grinned. "Maybe because you grew half a foot while you were gone."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Kairi was standing in the gymnasium of her high school, helping Selphie set up a ladder. There were piles of cloth scattered across the gym floor: banners. She was starting to set up for the school dance later that night. Three more girls were standing across the gym, blowing up balloons. Four guys were setting up the lighting and stage.

Selphie grabbed one of the banners and started to climb the ladder. "Spot me, would you Kai?" she asked, making her way clumsily up the ladder, holding the bulky banner.

"Careful, Selph!" she called, lifting her hand up as if to catch her friend when Selphie missed her footing on one of the steps.

Selphie caught her balance and grinned, blushing. She climbed the rest of the way up the ladder and began to pin the banner up, letting the end of the banner roll down the ladder. She stuck the pins in carefully, gripping the ladder with one hand, very aware of her precarious perch so high up. She paused for a moment, looking down at the redhead below her.

"Kairi, can you bring me up a handful more pins?" she asked teetering on her step.

Kairi nodded, grabbing a box of pins. She started the climb, careful to avoid grabbing onto the rungs where the cloth was covering the steps. She made her way slowly up to the top and handed the pins to Selphie. She stuck her tongue out in concentration as she tried to make her way safely back down to the bottom. On the third step down, her foot caught in the hanging banner and she slipped. With a cry, she fell over backwards, towards the unforgiving hardwood floor.

"KAIRI!" Selphie shouted, reaching down in vain to catch her.

Kairi squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself to hit the ground. She let out a gasp as a pair of arms caught her easily.

"I can't always be here to catch you," a voice told her quietly. She opened her eyes to look into the blue eyes she barely recognized, but at the same time, never thought she'd see again. She choked, her surprise forcing the breath out of her. She was placed firmly down onto her feet, and barely heard another voice, twin to the first, asking if she was alright. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, as if she was shaking the illusion out of her head. Yet, when she opened her eyes again, those blue eyes were still there, still watching her.

"S-Sora?" she asked, her hoarse voice and barely audible. One of the cinnamon coloured eyebrows lifted, as if to say _Duh, no shit._

"Are you sure she's okay?" the twin voice asked, sounding unsure.

The realization of what was actually going on hit Kairi.

"SORA!" she cried out happily, throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

Sora returned the embrace awkwardly. It was strange to him that Kairi be so small, so fragile. He glared at Roxas for looking so amused at the uncomfortable expression he knew was on his face. Everyone in the gym was staring slack-jawed at him.

"Kairi, you're choking me," he whispered, pushing her gently away.

She giggled. "Sorry!" she sang, far too happy. She was nearly crying.

Sora frowned, feeling himself cracking already. He knew what she was thinking; she thought he was back to stay. He wasn't listening to her as she chattered happily at him; he just nodded and 'hmm'ed when required. He noticed Selphie climbing down the ladder, and the three girls in the corner surrounded by balloons staring and whispering.

"Tell me what all you've been up to while you were gone! Was it exciting?" Kairi asked, tugging on Sora's hands.

"Not really. We've been stuck in Twilight Town," Sora answered distractedly, reminded of why he had come back in the first place. His eyes scanned the room for any evidence of Heartless presence. Of course he didn't find any, though he knew this school would be the first place hit. A thousand students packed into one place, the perfect people to emanate fear if given a reason to be afraid. They'd all be afraid of Riku and Sora after all; imagine what they would be like when surrounded by the grotesque creatures that feed off their terror…

Kairi had stopped talking and was looking at Sora expectantly, as if waiting for an answer to a question he hadn't heard. The blank look on Sora's face made it obvious that he hadn't been listening again.

"The pathways were opened again," Roxas said, stepping in to save Sora. "That's why we're here."

Kairi's face fell. "Oh. So you're not staying then."

"We're on our way to Disney Castle. I wanted to check on you before the King sent us to who knows where to hunt down the Heartless," Sora explained, his eyes flickering around the room and looking everywhere but at Kairi.

"The Heartless are back?" Kairi asked, her voice flat. She grabbed both of Sora's hands, and he looked back at her, surprised.

"Don't leave me here…" she murmured, stepping closer to him.

Sora cleared his throat and backed away from her, trying to free his hands from hers. He looked to Roxas for help when Kairi wouldn't let go, and she covered the distance between them again, bringing her face uncomfortably close to his.

"Please…" she breathed, closing her eyes.

Sora's eyes went wide, and he moved away from her again, backing into the wall. When she tried to close the distance between them again, he pulled his hands out of her grip and placed them on her shoulders, holding her at arm's length away from him.

"No, Kairi."

"I still love you."

"You loved the cute little boy that used to live here with you. I'm not the same Sora that you used to know. You know that. I mean, look at me. Shit, I scared the little kids on the beach on the way here just by looking at them! I'm not the same cute little kid, alright? The Sora you loved is as good as dead," he said, stepping away from her and walking towards the door.

"Sora, no!" Kairi called, running after him. She grabbed at his arm.

Sora spun around, his eyes hard. "Kairi, stop it. I shouldn't have come back."

There was a long silence. Kairi scowled and looked at the ground. "Riku came back once. It was a long time ago. He was looking for you," she admitted finally. She looked back up at him with angry eyes. "That's what you wanted to hear, isn't it? That Riku was looking for you. It doesn't matter to you in the least what happens to me!"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Sora barked in reply. "I came back here _first_, before going to see the King, before going to find out what was happening in Radiant Garden, before going off on some chase after Riku. _You _came first, so don't tell me I don't care!"

"But you'll just leave again…"

"Of course I'm leaving again, the rest of the Islanders hate me."

"Come on, Sora, they'll change! Give them a chance to get to know you," she begged.

"No. They'll hate me worse now than they ever did before."

"…then it is just about Riku then," Kairi said, glaring at him.

Sora just shook his head and walked out, Roxas on his heels.

"We don't have to come back," the blond offered as Sora burst through the front doors, swearing colourfully.

"Damn right we don't," he growled.

"SORA!" a female voice called out. Sora spun around, his eyes cold.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked, glaring at Kairi.

"Look, I'm sorry. But why do you have to leave? I mean, I still love you… Is that not enough for you?"

"You'd give it up in a second if it meant being accepted by the Islanders."

"That's not true…"

"You're a worse liar than Riku was."

"I…am sorry."

"…Fine."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"For now."

"So you'll come back?" Kairi asked quietly, afraid to let herself become hopeful.

"Probably not," Sora admitted. "But I'll see you again."

"Don't lie to me. No matter how you feel about me, I still can't take you leaving again when I can't know for sure when or even if I'll ever see you again," she said, her voice unsure.

"I promise, okay?" Sora said reluctantly. A glimpse of his old, innocent-but-awkward self showed through for only a moment, before his mask was replaced.

Kairi nodded. "Alright. Go."

Sora nodded once. "I'll see you again sometime," he said, the finality in his voice announcing that the conversation was over. He didn't move; clearly he intended for Kairi to go back inside the school.

Kairi lowered her eyes and stepped through the double-doors, back into the cool hallway. She shut the door behind her and looked through the glass out at the almost-twins standing on the sidewalk, talking in hushed voices. Neither was looking at each other. Kairi took the moment to look into Sora's face. The hard, jaded expression she saw there made her want to cry. Her sadness was toned with anger, because she knew whose fault it was that Sora was in so much pain. She wasn't sure whether or not she hated Riku, but she wanted, more than anything, for Riku to stop hiding. For Sora and Riku to find each other again, because it would be the only way that Sora would smile again.

She turned and walked down the hallway, back towards her class. Selphie was running towards her. She was paying no attention to the bubbly brunette; her mind was on the last time Riku had been back on the Islands. Like the way Sora cared only about Riku's whereabouts, Riku had only been interested in finding Sora. Kairi was incensed that each was taking the other away from her. She desperately ignored the voice inside of her telling her that she had taken advantage of their presence when they were still around, that she had been the one who had pushed them away, and that she was the reason they felt like the only people they could depend on was each other. Although, even their trust in each other was in question now.

Sora paced outside the school, agitated.

"That went badly," he announced, shaking his head. He ran his hands through his hair, over and over; a nervous habit was developing.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Roxas asked.

"Hell yes," Sora answered, pulling his jacket tight around himself. "I'll be happy to be gone forever," he added, looking around at the quaint peace with distain.

Roxas frowned. "Didn't you promise Kairi you'd see her again? You have to come back."

"I said I'd see her again, but I'm not coming back. One day she'll release she belongs here even less than I do. Then I'll probably find her in Radiant Garden. She'd get along famously with Yuffie," Sora anwered, sounding distant. "Let's go see Leon and everyone after we meet with the King," he said, looking down the road towards the Island, where the gummiship was waiting. He'd been itching to visit the Garden crew for a long time; he still didn't fit in completely there, but they were the closest people he had to friends anymore.


	6. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Sora cut the roaring engine and stepped out of the gummiship and into the hangar, where Chip and Dale were waiting for them.

"Welcome back Sora!" Chip chirped, bowing to him.

"Thanks. Where's the King?"

"Library. There's somebody else here who says he knows you, too," Dale answered.

"…Who?" Sora asked, confused, as the two chipmunks led him and Roxas out of the hangar and into the courtyard.

"Dunno. Some blonde kid," Dale replied, shrugging.

Sora looked at Roxas for an answer, but Roxas looked just as lost concerning this mysterious character.

"Where is he?" Roxas asked after a moment.

"Couldn't tell you. Ask the King," Chip said. The two chipmunks opened the doors into the hallway. With a nod of their heads, they scampered back across the garden to the hangar.

Sora and Roxas walked quietly through the red-carpeted hallway. Sora was tense; he kept looking over his shoulder, feeling like a Heartless would melt out of the ground any moment and begin the assault.

Roxas elbowed him. "Relax. This is the safest possible place you can be," he said reassuringly.

Sora frowned. "Maybe I should have brought Kairi here with us."

"No. You said so yourself: she needs to stay there until she realizes that the Islands are not where she belongs," Roxas answered stubbornly.

Sora just shrugged and pulled open the door to the library.

"Sora," the King greeted, clearly relieved.

"Your Majesty," Sora answered, bowing his head quickly.

"Maleficent—" the King began, but Sora waved his hand, interrupting him.

"Yen Sid told us everything," he answered.

The King nodded. "Good, so you know what must be done then."

"Sure. Go to the World that Never Was, take out Maleficent and deal with whatever Heartless are left after that. It's getting routine," Sora said, smirking.

"Don't be overconfident. No doubt Maleficent has learned as much over the past years as you have, perhaps more. She'll have gained as much strength as you. Remember that."

"Alright, don't worry. Roxas does a good job of keeping my head from getting too big," he answered, nudging Roxas. The blond grinned and sauntered off out of the library.

"You guys probably have lots of planning to do and whatever. I'm gonna go check out the rest of the castle. Come find me for dinner!" he called over his shoulder, laughing.

The King smiled, amused. "Of course, you are most welcome to stay for dinner before you leave for your journey." With that, he looked over Sora's shoulder to the door of the library, smiling at whoever was standing there.

"…Sora?"

Sora turned around and gaped. "Tidus!"

"Sora!" the blond exclaimed happily. He stepped forward and grabbed Sora's forearm to pull him into a hug, but Sora hissed and pulled his arm back. Tidus pulled his hand back instantly, watching the brunette warily.

Sora plastered a fake smile on his face. "S'okay. So what have you been up to?" he asked.

Tidus shrugged. "Wandering. I went from planet to planet for a long time, with no particular direction most of the time."

"Why didn't you ever come back?"

"I'm looking for someone. I ended up on this planet that was in the throws of being destroyed, and got sucked into some other world. I met a girl there."

"Oh."

"Yep. She was amazing. But apparently I was a dream, like I wasn't actually real, so I ended up disappearing and kind of ended up on some random other planet. I've been looking for a way to get back to her ever since," Tidus explained wistfully.

"What planet is she on?" Sora asked. He's been to enough planets that he'd probably been there, or at least heard of it.

"Spira," Tidus answered, frowning.

Sora frowned. That was one he'd never heard of.

"When I was there, I was told that the world I lived in was a dream," Tidus said slowly. They had started walking, heading in no particular direction, and were now just wandering the halls of the castle.

"Do you think that we might just be living in a dream? That our whole existence is simply for the purpose of creating a world where someone else's dreams can take place?" Tidus asked, suddenly solemn.

"Nope," Sora answered simply. "If we were living in a dream, the people here would all be shallow, plastic people. I mean, most of them are, but there wouldn't be anyone like Riku, or like Axel, or me or Roxas, for that matter. Everything would be black and white, no shades of gray. Everything would be either good or evil. But it's not. No one is right or wrong, they're just trying to ensure their survival any way they can." He paused, running his fingers through his hair. "No, dreams are much too simple. This isn't a dream."

"But, aren't you fighting the Heartless because it's right?" Tidus asked.

"I'm fighting the Heartless because it's kill or be killed. I have a survival instinct. Not much of one anymore, but it's still there."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Dinner was taken in a wide hall, similar to the throne room, with a long wooden table, filled with the occupants of the castle. When Sora and Tidus arrived, there were already many people there, laughing and talking. A handful of serving people were already beginning to set plates of delicious looking food out on the table; there were endless salads, and pies, and turkeys, mashed potatoes and several different types of kabobs, plus any number of things that Sora couldn't recognize for the life of him. Sora walked into the room, impressed by the size and grandeur. He supposed that he shouldn't have been, since all of the castle was grand, but every time he came here, he always forgot just how awe-inspiring it was.

"SORA!" a pair of voices shouted at the same time. Sora was brought back to the present time and place, but before he could re-orient himself, two weights collided with him, one significantly greater than another, knocking him flat on the ground and sending him skidding backwards into the wall.

"Shit! Ouch!" he sputtered.

"Sora, language!" one of the voices said. It would have sounding scolding, but the voice itself was so silly sounding that intimidation of any kind was impossible.

Sora let his eyes open a crack. "Donald?! Goofy!" he said, sounding absurdly surprised. He couldn't figure out why he would be so surprised to see his old friends here. This was their home after all.

Goofy and Donald climbed off of him, each grinning eat to ear, and then each noted Tidus standing at the doorway, watching the display, his mouth slightly agape.

"So," he began slowly, "I take it you three know each other?"

"We traveled together for two years, when I was fighting Xehanort and Maleficent, and then Xemnas," Sora explained, speaking quickly, since Goofy and Donald each had grabbed an arm and were pulling him towards the table, demanding that they sit together.

"Save a seat for me?" Roxas asked, wandering casually towards them.

Sora, by this time, had already sat down and had a mouth stuffed full of food. He motioned towards the empty seat next to Donald, trying to say something that came out as an incompressible string of grunts because of the food.

Goofy leaned around Sora and Donald. "You're that Roxas kid, right? Sora's other half?" he asked slowly.

Roxas beamed, mostly at the fact that he was being recognized as a person as opposed to being ignored in favour of Sora as per usual. "I'm Roxas. I'm surprised you remember me," he admitted sheepishly.

"O' course we remember you! You look too much like Sora to forget. It's uncanny!" Goofy answered incredulously.

Tidus finally approached and sat down next to Goofy. "Let's eat!" he announced, piling his food onto his plate.

Sora let out a laugh, but ended up spraying food out all over his plate.

"SORA!" Donald complained, shrinking away from the brunette.

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly, reaching across the table for the hunter's pie.

Roxas watched all this, a grin plastered across his face. It had been an exceptionally long time since he'd seen Sora so comfortable and relaxed, and, being a part of Sora, the happier emotions were relayed to him.

"Tidus, what was so special about this girl that she'd keep you away from home for so long?" Sora asked, looking around Goofy at the blond.

"Well… actually, everybody in Spira hated me at first. They all had some crazy traditions and they all got really offended when I didn't know any of them. They all hated me without even getting to know me. Except Yuna. She was a summoner. She had more right to be offended then any of the rest of them, because I almost got her excommunicated, but she was one of the only ones who never really cared that I didn't know all the traditions," Tidus explained, smiling slightly as he thought of her.

Sora nodded. "I know. I know what it's like to be an outsider, and how important it is to have someone accept you," he agreed, his expression bitter.

"You okay Sora?" Tidus asked slowly, looking concerned.

"Fine. I just wish I had someone like your Yuna," he answered.

Tidus grinned. "She's amazing. But that wasn't even the beginning of the things to love about her. She became a summoner when she was seventeen. She wanted to be one all her life. I didn't know this for a long time, but when she left on her pilgrimage, she was on a journey to her death. She'd known all her life that she was in training to die before she ever reached the age of twenty, just so she could defeat Sin and give her people a few years peace before it came back to terrorize her world again. She would sacrifice her life for what she loved," he said wistfully.

Sora furrowed his brow, frowning at his plate. "Yuna? You said her name was Yuna?" he asked slowly.

"Yuna," Tidus repeated, nodding.

"What did she look like?" Sora asked, concentrating hard.

"Uhh, brown hair, blue and green eyes."

"Did she know anyone named Rikku or Paine?"

"Sure, Rikku was her cousin. I don't know of any Paine though."

"Okay, this Rikku was a blonde, crazy happy girl?"

"Exactly. Did you meet her?" Tidus asked, his interest peaked.

Sora looked smug. "You're coming with us to Radiant Garden. I have to meet up with some people there, and if you want to keep looking for your girlfriend, it would be the place to start."

x.x.x.x.x.x

Right-o. This one's shorter than usual. But hey. Review please!


	7. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Sora, Roxas and Tidus walked together into Radiant Garden's market square. It was almost entirely empty. It looked like it was still early in the morning, and all of the shops were still closed. Only Cloud was there.

"Sora," he greeted.

"Hey Cloud. This is Roxas and Tidus," Sora answered.

Cloud nodded to the two blonds. "If you're looking for the others, go ask Cid where they've gone. He's at Merlin's. The rest of them went off somewhere last night. They haven't come back yet," he offered.

Sora nodded. "Right, thanks. See you later."

"Yeh." Cloud went back to being brooding and silent.

"He sounds bored," Tidus commented, peering over his shoulder at the black clad blond standing motionless in the square.

"That's Cloud for you. Watch your back. If the Heartless are back, they'll probably congregate here. This world was the worst damaged when they first took over, so they see it as a vulnerable target," Sora said, summoning his Keyblade. Despite his words, though, he didn't look very tense; he swung his weapon idly and seemed to pay no attention to where he was going.

They arrived at Merlin's house very quickly.

"If it isn't Sora!" Cid greeted, getting to his feet and grinning at the three entered the small house. He got more of a look at Sora and started staring. "You've…grown," he commented after a long moment, scratching his head. It was true. Sora was taller than Cid now.

"Thanks, I think. I'm looking for Leon and Yuffie. And Aerith, if she's with them."

"They've gone down to the castle. The defense systems have been acting up again, so watch yourself when you go. They haven't attacked anyone yet, but they're certainly not doing what they're supposed to," Cid warned. Then his expression cracked into a grin. "But that's no problem for you to be dealing with, eh, Sora?"

"Yeh," Sora agreed, chuckling distractedly. "Thanks, Cid. See you later."

"Cid's kinda…weird," Tidus noted when they got back outside.

Sora ignored him, so Roxas answered instead.

"You gonna keep a running commentary on all of the people Sora talks to?" he asked, grinning wickedly.

Tidus scowled. "So I'm opinionated. What's it to you?"

"Relax, Tidus. It was a joke. J-O-K-E. Get it?"

"Wasn't funny."

"Was so and you know it."

"What are you two arguing about?" Sora asked, deciding to show off a little and walk backwards so that he could face the two blonds, knowing full well exactly where he was going. He decided that he knew this place like the back of his hand.

"Nothing," Roxas answered innocently.

Tidus' face was bright red as he tried to keep from laughing.

Sora scrunched up his face, wondering what was so funny. And then he tripped over the steps that he should have known were there. He let out a yelp and sat down hard on one of the stone steps. "DAMNIT! THAT HURT!" he shouted.

At that, Roxas and Tidus collapsed into peels of laughter.

"It's not funny, you assholes!" Sora muttered, standing up and rubbing his sore tailbone gingerly.

Roxas giggled, slapping his hands over his mouth to try to hide his laughter.

Sora scowled at him and limped up the stairs, muttering foul things, while the other two followed, still chuckling.

They reached the castle, walking into Ansem's study. Tidus didn't look surprised by what they found there, but that was only because he'd never been there before. Sora, and Roxas by relation, had been so they gaped at the scene around them. The room had been emptied entirely, with only shards of broken glass and the remnants of a single wooden chair smashed into bits.

"Someone's stolen what was left of Ansem's research," Leon stated. He was standing in the center of the room, kicking at the broken glass.

"I wonder who that could have been," Yuffie commented sarcastically, running her fingers over the obviously Heartless-made claw marks that had torn the wallpaper. She turned around found herself facing Sora's chest. She looked up, her jaw dropping. "Woah! Sora, what happened? You're so different!" She stood on her tiptoes and scowled, finding that she still went up to about Sora's chin. "You're tall."

"Too bad. I can't call you 'squirt' or 'kid' anymore," Leon noted indifferently.

"Leon, would you come help me…Oh! Sora!" Aerith greeted him with a smile when she walked in. "And who are your friends?"

"This is Roxas, but I think you've met him before. And this is Tidus. He's looking for Yuna and her gang."

"Oh yes, I remember Roxas. It's good to meet you, Tidus. My name is Aerith, this is Leon, and that's Yuffie." She turned to Leon. "It looks like whoever stole Ansem's research in here tried to access information on the computer as well. It's gone into some sort of lockdown, and I can't check out the damage."

"Hmmm… if the system's gone into lockdown…I don't know that I'll be able to do much until the lock times out…" Leon muttered, furrowing his eyebrows in thought.

"We could go in and talk to Tron, if that would help. He might be able to get us through a backdoor," Sora offered. "He might even be able to take the lockdown off, once he's sure that we're the ones trying to access the information, because we'd be trusted users."

"Perfect! We'll get you in there right away, if that's okay. I don't like to leave the town without its defenses," Aerith said, leading everyone into the computer room.

"Tidus, did you want to come, or stay here? You might want to take a look around for Yuna while we check out the computer," Sora said.

"I'll look for Yuna while you guys go fix things up. I'm useless at technology anyways."

"Then why don't Leon and I go with you to look? It'll go faster if there is three of us. Yuffie can stay here and keep an eye on Sora and Roxas. Okay?" Aerith decided.

Yuffie pouted. "Why do I have to be the one to stay?" she whined.

"Because you don't get along so well with the Gullwings," Leon answered. "There's been animosity between Yuff and the Gullwings ever since she attacked them, after we took on that Heartless army," he explained, noticing the confused look on Sora's face.

"You attacked them? Why?" Sora asked, mildly interested.

"They were fraternizing with the ENEMY!" Yuffie shrieked accusingly, glowering at Leon and Aerith.

"Go set up the computer so that Sora and Roxas can get in and talk to Tron," Leon ordered, ignoring the outburst. He turned on his heel and walked out of the study, motioning to Tidus and Aerith to follow. Within a moment, Sora, Roxas and Yuffie were the only ones left in the room.

"FINE!" Yuffie shouted, glowering at the now-empty doorway. "Come on," she muttered, stalking into the computer room.

The computer room was as much of a mess as the study had been. There was stuff everywhere, and one of the screens had been smashed to bits.

Yuffie hit a couple of buttons on the computer and sighed. She turned around to face the laser that brought people into the computer, and scowled.

"The mechanical bits are all stuck. The Heartless must have jammed something in there," she explained with a frown. She hit the buttons again, and then a third time when it still didn't work. The fourth attempt was met with a loud grinding of metal on metal and a bang. The laser then began to smoke. Yuffie's eyes went wide.

"Oops."

"Don't push any more buttons," Sora ordered, grimacing at the sound. He walked up to the laser and inspected the outside of it in silence. Then, with a 'hmm', he pulled himself up so that he was sitting on the laser, and pulled open the small door that was protecting the circuitry. He reached inside, peering into the dark mass of wires with a frown. He pulled one of the broken wires out, one that had been causing a short. The machine began to whir, and the grinding sound began again. Sora leaned over and gave a sharp tug to one of the hydraulic poles that controlled the laser, and kicked at another. There was another loud bang, and the laser sprang to life.

Sora was thrown off the machine with a cry, and he and Roxas transported into the computer before he even hit the ground.

Yuffie stared at the empty space before her. "Whew. I hope I can get them back out again…" she muttered nervously.

Sora grunted as his digital self was thrown out of the virtual portal, and into the wall. He groaned, getting to his feet and looking around. He spotted Roxas standing by the locked door of the cell.

"Damn, we're going to have to break out _again_?" Sora asked, walking up to the cell door. He sighed and stepped back away from the door. Summoning his Keyblade, he motioned for Roxas to step away from the door. His eyes narrowed at the locked cell door, and he concentrated completely on the lock. Then, he swung his Keyblade out in front of him, summoning thunder magic. The door began to crackle, the electricity shorting out the cell door's programming. With a yell, Sora threw his Keyblade at the door, which exploded in a shower of sparks on impact.

"That was easier than last time," he commented nonchalantly, summoning his Keyblade back to himself.

"Last time?" Roxas asked, following Sora out of the cell. They entered the Canyon, and looked around.

"Last time we were deemed malicious users and locked up in the Pit Cell. Now how do we get to the IO Tower from here…?"

"SORA!" a voice shouted from above them. Tron landed rather ungracefully on the ground next to them. "Thank goodness you're here!" he exclaimed, but before he could explain, the viruses that he'd been running from showed up.

"Damnit, more Heartless viruses?" Sora asked, summoning his Keyblade and kicking the closest one, sending it careening into the canyon. He knocked the next one into another, and jumped into the fray.

Roxas summoned his own Keyblade and attacked. It took less than ten seconds to dispatch the vicious viruses.

"Someone attacked the computer with viruses! I locked down each section of the computer to keep the infections from spreading. All of the most critical areas have already been cleared out. We're trying to get rid of the rest of them now," Tron explained, leading the pair towards the Solar Sailer. "The IO Tower is getting it the worst. Even in lockdown, the viruses keep getting inside."

"Then we need to clean up the IO Tower for good, right?" Sora asked.

"Exactly. We're on our way there now," Tron confirmed.

They reached the IO Tower, and a female voice echoed through the mainframe.

_Access denied. System in lockdown. _

"Someone's trying to access a part of the mainframe that's been locked down," Tron noted, looking around.

"Yuffie, probably," Sora answered, only half paying attention.

_Are you sure you wish to delete user profile?_

"What is this Yuffie trying to do, exactly?" Tron asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Who knows? I kind of wish she wouldn't touch the computer. She isn't very good with technology. She almost broke it while we were on our way in," Sora answered. He walked with Roxas and Tron to the IO Tower, until a ring of energy appeared around his wrist, holding him in place. "Ouch! What the hell?!" he demanded, pulling at the ring. The ring wasn't attached to anything; it was floating in midair, but it wasn't about to move.

_User Sora to be deleted. CONFIRM._

"Hey! NO!" Sora shouted angrily, pulling at the ring with renewed vigor. Another ring appeared around Sora's other wrist, holding his other arm out from his side. "No! Rox, help!"

"Sora!" Roxas cried, yanking futilely against the energy rings.

_Deletion confirmed._

Tron ran to the IO Tower, and frantically hit buttons on the terminal. A moment later, Tron and the Tower disappeared from in front of Sora and Roxas, and they found themselves standing at the starting line of the Light Cycle race.

Sora stared at his surroundings, momentarily disoriented.

_Deletion cancelled. User profile is currently in use by another program._

Roxas laughed in relief. "Tron bought us some time by putting us in the race. Hopefully he can lock out the user by the time the race is over," he said, walking up to one of the Light Cycles.

Sora nodded, swinging himself onto the Cycle next to Roxas.

_3_

_2_

_1_

_GO!_


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Sora kicked off, and his Light Cycle shot forward, knocking the wind out of him. He was still only human after all, even in the Space Paranoids; his body wasn't built to take instant acceleration like that. Vaguely, he was aware of Roxas letting out a strangled cry of surprise, even less prepared for the feeling of his stomach dropping into his feet than Sora had been.

In the precious seconds that it took Sora to reorient himself, one of the computer racers pulled past him, dropping some small and unassuming ball to the ground, but as Sora's wheels collided with it, there was a loud bang and Sora was thrown from his Light Cycle, crashing into the wall.

Roxas lost all interest in the race, skidding to a stop. "Sora! Sora, are you okay?" he asked, abandoning his cycle in the middle of the track and running over to him.

"I'm fine," Sora grunted, getting to his feet. "Get back on your bike. We lose and we could end up in a situation worse than being deleted, got it?"

Sora picked up his battered Light Cycle, and summoned his Keyblade, waiting for the wide-eyed Roxas to get his own bike back up and running.

"The end's over there. We're taking a short cut; we'll have no chance otherwise," he explained, kicking off again. This time, the wind was still knocked out of him, but he had braced himself for it better, and it took him far less time to regain his bearings. Mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like a string of profanities, Sora cast his Keyblade towards the wall that he was racing for. The weapon hit the wall and there was a loud crackle, that section of wall flickering out of existence. Sora and Roxas raced through the opening before the program was able to pick up a backup code and close the wall off again. There, a distance in front of them, were the other racers.

"Think you can keep up?" Sora asked, leaning forward and shooting ahead of Roxas.

"HA! No problem!" Roxas answered, sending his own Light Cycle flying after Sora. They raced each other towards the computer racers, catching up in a surprisingly short time.

Sora let out another stream of profanities when his eyes fell on the one who attacked him, ahead of the rest. He threw his Keyblade at it, the weapon spinning towards it at dangerous velocities. The racer looked behind and saw the weapon, and sped up to avoid the attack. Sora, in turn, sped up as well, actually catching up to the Keyblade as it spun through the air and catching it before sending it spinning towards the racer again. This time, it hit its mark, knocking the racer off its path and sending it crashing into the wall. Sora summoned his Keyblade back to himself as Roxas's voice rang out behind him.

"Look out!!"

Sora twisted around on time to see a Light Cycle directly behind him pull up onto its back wheel. With a squeal, the bike raced forward until it was over Sora, the front wheel threatening to set down on top of him. Sora gunned the engine, accelerating, but his attacker kept pace easily. The front wheel began to lower, and Sora twisted around again, bracing his Keyblade against it to buy himself some time to escape. There was a loud screeching, metal against metal, and then the Light Cycle pulled suddenly upwards, flipping over backwards. It flew backwards and crashed into the next computer racer behind, revealing Roxas, standing on the seat of his Light Cycle, having physically pulled the computer racer off of Sora's back. Roxas maneuvered himself so that he was riding along side Sora.

"Thanks, Rox."

"No problem. I think letting my other half be squished might have turned out badly for both of us, don't you?"

"Probably, but let's talk later. We have a race to finish still," he answered, looking over his shoulder at the last remaining racers.

"Not too fast, we have to make sure Tron locks out the user before we finish," Roxas noted.

Sora smirked, a hint of aggression surfacing. "Well then, why don't we just take out the rest of our opponents and walk the rest of the way?" he suggested.

Roxas gaped at him. "You're horrible! It's the most brilliant idea I've ever heard!" he exclaimed, a devious grin spreading across his face. They both killed their Light Cycles at the same moment, coming to a lurching stop, and both summoned a Keyblade into each hand and held them out, so that their blades spanned the entire track. And, just like a computer program would, the riders ran themselves obliviously into the weapons, clothes-lining themselves and crashing into the ground while their Light Cycles went careening into the walls.

Sora swung himself off of his Light Cycle, grinning maniacally. "That went well," he said, watching as the destroyed Light Cycles flicker out of existence.

"I guess by the time we get to the end on foot, Tron will have more than enough time to lock out whoever was trying to delete you, right?"

"That's the plan," Sora answered, knocking his Light Cycle over and walking slowly down the track.

Roxas kicked his own Light Cycle over and amused himself by setting it on fire and letting it explode.

Sora laughed. "Stop playing games, Rox."

"Why? It's not like we're in any hurry," Roxas answered, shrugging.

Sora crossed his arms. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that you shouldn't play with fire?"

"Well, sure, but that all kind of flew out the window when I made friends with Axel," Roxas answered, chuckling.

Sora continued walking, keeping an eye on Roxas as the blond started to follow him down the track. He crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Do you miss him?"

"Huh?" Roxas asked, trotting to catch up with his companion.

"I said: do you miss him?" Sora repeated, looking over at Roxas.

"Sure, but I don't dwell on it much," Roxas answered, staring off into space.

Sora watched him, suspecting that Roxas wasn't telling the truth, but didn't exactly push the matter. They rounded a corner and started down another long passage.

"This is going to be a long, boring walk," Roxas complained.

Sora shrugged. "I'd tell you to go on ahead and meet up with Tron, but you blew up your Light Cycle."

"I guess that was kind of stupid…"

"I told you."

"Shut up."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Sora and Roxas had been walking for a while, and Sora guessed that they were a probably just over half way to the finish line. A comfortable silence had fallen between them, and it was broken a moment later by that female voice echoing through the mainframe.

_Light Cycle program timed out. New players now entering program._

"Ummmm… What does that mean…?" Roxas asked, looking nervous.

Sora looked around, his finger to his lips, listening. He could hear the sound Light Cycles starting some distance away. "It means we run!" he shouted suddenly, launching into a sprint.

"What?! You mean we have to _outrun_ the Light Cycles?!" Roxas demanded, his voice cracking as he ran after Sora.

"We have to try."

"We can't!"

"Look, if they…catch up to us… we knock the first two… racers off… and take their Cycles," Sora answered, breathing hard between words.

"Got it," Roxas said, nodding and pushing himself to catch up with the brunette, who had gotten a head start. They could hear the Light Cycles approaching behind them as they rounded another corner. Far down that corridor, they could see the finish line, and between them and it, a handful of viruses.

"Let's go!" Sora shouted, summoning Keyblades into both hands and leaping at the closest virus.

Roxas summoned his own Keyblades and attacked the next, driving his Oathkeeper Keyblade into the top of the robot-like creature and vaulting to the next one, attacking it with Oblivion and summoning Oathkeeper back once he saw the first one fall out of the corner of his eye.

Sora slashed through the first one, ripping it into three pieces before landing on the ground and running towards the next one. They dispatched the four viruses in only moments, but it was a delay enough to allow the other Light Cycle racers to come around the corner. They approached fast.

Roxas stood his ground in the center of the track, holding his Keyblades up. Sora jumped behind him and grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"Let's GO!" he growled, sprinting for the finish.

Roxas choked and stumbled after Sora.

"We'll never outrun them!"

"We don't have time to hijack a bike! We have to run!" Sora barked, still dragging Roxas behind him. The blond found his footing and sprinted after Sora, seeing a Light Cycle coming up beside them from behind, out of the corner of his eye. He reached out with his Keyblade, jammed it into the wheel of the Cycle. There was a loud screeching noise, as the engine screamed and the bike rolled forward, slowing distinctly; the racer behind smashed into it, and as the carnage of the crash built up behind them, another Light Cycle skidding into the mess of metal, Sora and Roxas crossed the finish line. A blinding light met them on the other side.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_


	9. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Tron met them in front of the IO Tower, looking relieved.

"The viruses have stopped pouring in. There's a few left, but they'll be easily taken care of," he explained.

"Good, then I think we should get out and check on Yuffie. Whoever tried to delete me had to get past Yuffie to do it, and I don't think that means good news for her," Sora answered.

"Didn't you say before that this Yuffie was the one trying to delete you?" Tron asked.

"I thought she might have been making a mistake, but not even Yuffie is technophobic enough to accidentally delete me. Someone had to have been doing it on purpose," Sora said.

"So whoever stole all of Ansem's research and put the system into lockdown in the first place must have come back to try to finish the job," Roxas observed. "You think they'll still be there when we get back into Radiant Garden?"

"I have no idea. But it's not like we're unused to jumping blindly into something dangerously stupid. Shouldn't be a problem," Sora replied, smirking.

Tron looked nervous. "Oh, alright… I'll get you back out. Give me a moment," he said, watching Sora warily.

Sora and Roxas stood back to back, Keyblades held in the ready as they flickered out of the computer.

The laser roared to life, and Sora and Roxas materialized into an empty computer room. Both looked around suspiciously, but there was no one to be seen.

"Where's Yuffie?" Roxas asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Sora shrugged and motioned for Roxas to follow, sneaking quietly towards Ansem's study. He stepped into the room and a rustle in the silence alerted him of someone's presence. He spun around, lifting his Keyblade and knocking aside the enormous shuriken that came spinning towards his head.

"Sora!" Yuffie cried out, promptly following her weapon by throwing herself at him, forcing the air out of Sora's lungs and knocking him into the wall.

"I'm sorry! I thought you were one of the Heartless!" she explained. "The Heartless attacked just after you went into the computer. There was so many of them! They attacked the computer, and I tried so hard to get them all off before anything bad happened to you, but then more came and attacked me!"

"It's okay Yuffie! Now can you please get off me?!" Sora demanded, trying to sit up.

"Oh, right!" she got to her feet and helped Sora up. "Let's go find Leon and Arieth and that friend of yours…Tidus."

"If the Heartless are here, then they've probably been attacked, too," Roxas agreed.

The group of three made there way back towards Merlin's house, meeting no Heartless, but also no allies, on their way. Reaching the top of the stairs above the square in front of Merlin's, shouts could be heard from below, and the sounds of battle began.

Sora ran half way down the stairs, gave up on running and jumped onto the rail, sliding down it at a far faster speed. Yuffie and Roxas jumped on after him, liking the idea. Heartless were pouring into the square from all directions, and five fighters were standing in a circle, fighting off the onslaught: Tidus, Leon, Aerith, Cid and Cloud. Sora leapt from the railing to a house roof and jumped down to the ground from there, landing almost directly in front of Leon. He spun and backed his way into the circle between Leon and Tidus.

"Good of you to join us," Leon muttered, slashing into yet another Heartless Shadow.

Sora just grunted in reply.

Roxas and Yuffie slid both down to the bottom of the stairs, the ninja nearly colliding with the blond when he stumbled to an abrupt stop on the ground, cutting into the closest Heartless. She moved around him, to his opposite side, each covering the other's back and fighting their way towards the others. They cut a path through the twisting shadows, but as soon as they cut down one and moved forward, another would step in behind it. Eventually they made it to the defending circle.

Yuffie took a place between Sora and Leon.

Panting, Roxas stepped in between Cid and Aerith. "There's too many of them!" he gasped, taking out two more.

Cid swore loudly beside him, and stumbled backwards into the center of the circle. Roxas and Cloud closed the gap.

"You alright old man?" Cloud asked over his shoulder, brandishing his enormous sword as three Heartless ganged up on him.

"I'm gettin' too old for this!" Cid answered, hissing as his inspected the wound that cut into his thigh.

Aerith stole a glace at Roxas. "I'm going to help Cid. You'll be alright, won't you?"

"Fine," Roxas answered, widening his stance to prepare taking on Aerith's enemies. Leon, on her other side, did the same, and she stepped back into the circle, to tend to Cid and his injured leg.

A few moments later, a high-pitched giggle sounded from the roof of Merlin's house.

"GULLWINGS TO THE RESCUE! HY-AH!" came the shrieking war cry, followed by three figures that came flying down from the roof tops and entering the fray. There was a renewed vigor in the fight, and it was a relief to see victory on the horizon. It only took a few minutes after that for the Heartless to be dispersed. Once the numbers fell to about a third of what they had been, the Heartless seemed to sense defeat and retreated. It wasn't until then that Tidus got a look at the late-coming aid.

"Y-Yuna?!" he choked, gaping at the cute little brunette who was high-fiving a bikini-clad blonde.

Said brunette spun around when she heard his voice. She rubbed her mismatched eyes, blinking, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Then, she let out a loud laugh and sprinted towards him, jumping into his arms.

"Tidus, Tidus, Tidus!!!" She touched his hair, his hands, his face, as if she couldn't believe that he was actually there. "You're alive… What happened? How did you get here? How is this even possible?"

"I don't know, say thanks to Sora, and I don't know again," Tidus answered, grinning cheekily.

"Sora?" she asked, her eyes flickering from Leon, to Cloud, to Cid, to Sora, to Roxas, and back again, all in less than a second.

"Sora, meet Yuna," Tidus said, beckoning to him.

"I've met you before," Sora said, his voice oddly monotone.

Roxas watched him warily, the only one to pick up on Sora's change in mood.

"Oh, I remember you!" Rikku announced, bouncing towards him. "Geez, you changed a lot!" She grinned at him, skipping right up to him and coming to a stop very close.

Meanwhile, Tidus planted a quick kiss on Yuna's lips, and ended up being caught in a lengthy lip lock. Sora caught sight of them and muttered something incomprehensible. Then, he turned around to face Roxas.

"We're done here," he said, his voice acid.

Roxas just nodded. He knew what Sora was feeling, and he also knew that it would only be a matter of time for Sora to say something he'd regret if they stayed for much longer. He was incredibly jealous of Tidus and his connection with Yuna, since he had lost that connection himself. The wound of loss was as raw as it had been nearly three years ago, and the watching the reunion was only making it worse. Sora turned and started walking away, wringing his wrists.

"Where're you going?!" Yuffie asked, seeing Sora and Roxas heading out of the square, toward where they'd landed their gummiship.

"We have stuff to do, Yuffie. The Heartless and Maleficent still have to be dealt with," Roxas explained apologetically, before running to catch up with Sora, who hadn't even bothered to pause.

They reached the market square in only a few moments. Most of the stores had opened, but there were very few people milling about.

"I want out of this place. Everywhere I go, people always get to be happy. I fucking hate it!" Sora growled, picking up his pace.

"Sora?" a quiet, female voice called out from behind them.

Sora paused, but didn't turn around. "What's up, Aerith?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice even, his eyes shielded. He felt her touch his shoulder, and he turned to face her. His eyes widened in surprise when she pulled him into a hug.

"I know you feel like you're alone, Sora, but you're not. You're light is always with you. Remember that," she whispered before letting him go.

Sora smirked bitterly. "Thanks for the sentiment, but my light left me a long time ago."

A long silence stretched between them, as Aerith looked into Sora's pained eyes, plagued with indecision. Taking a deep breath, she spoke finally.

"He never stopped caring about you," she answered quickly, before turning and fleeing back towards Merlin's house. Sora watched her go, frozen completely. It was a long time before he moved. When he did, it was only to flex his hands, opening and shutting them into fists so tight that his nails cut into his skin, drawing blood. The emotions rushing through Sora were so intense they made his dizzy, and the reverberation through Roxas was so painful that the blond clutched at his chest, barely able to breathe. Suddenly, the onslaught of emotion released both of them. Roxas's head snapped up to see Sora's expression; face contorted in some mixture of pain and rage, Sora summoned his Keyblade and threw it across the market square with all his might, letting out a furious roar as he did to. The blade collided with the ground a good hundred feet away, shattering three of the cobblestones into tiny pieces.

Every single person in the market stared at Sora, fear in all of their eyes. He wheeled around, summoning his Keyblade back, and glowered at each of them. "What the hell are you looking at?"

Once they were safely off Radiant Garden and floating in the middle of the void, Roxas leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head.

"So? Where to now?" he asked.

Sora crossed his arms. "I don't care where we go. You decide. I just want to get the hell out of here," he answered sourly.

"Alright…ummm…" he paused, thinking. "Where would the Heartless present the worst problem?"

"Huh?"

"I figured we should go where we're needed most… and a good fight will probably help you get your frustrations out."

"Whatever. Port Royal probably needs us most. The piracy seems to attract more Heartless attention than most other planets. Will and Elizabeth are probably looking for a little help about now."

Roxas grinned. "If that's the case, then Jack would be looking for a lot of help."

_Poor Sora's so emo :P Next chapter means some super excitement in Port Royal, and a mysterious encounter!! Dun dun dun! _


	10. Chapter 8

_Not sure what happened last chapter, something must have gone weird... that or nobody actually reviewed... :( Anyways, read and review this chapter then! _**  
**

**Chapter 8**

The gummiship landed amidst a pitiful drizzle on the ramparts of the fort in Port Royal. Sora and Roxas stepped out of the craft and looked around. It was suspiciously quiet. There were no voices, no birds, nothing. Just the sound of the rain.

"Something's up," Sora noted unnecessarily.

"No kidding," Roxas muttered. Both summoned their Keyblades and walked along the ramparts, watching for any movement. Then, a panicked shriek came from the beaches below.

"Will!" a female voice shouted, shooting through two octaves as she cried out.

Sora leaned over the rampart to look down at the beach, where Elizabeth, dressed in a dirtied white dress, was running across the beach towards the portcullis. Sora looked over to Roxas, and then they both looked back down over the rampart. Armed men, two of whom were holding a thrashing Will Turner, became visible as a short man led them out of the shelter of the archway towards the apparently angry Elizabeth.

"What is going on?!" she demanded.

"Good afternoon, Miss Swan. I'm here as a representative of the East India Trading Company. I have a warrant for your arrest, as well as that of your husband-to-be and your father."

"For what crime?" Elizabeth demanded, ignoring the rain rolling down her face and further soaking her dress.

"Aiding in the escape of a known pirate, Jack Sparrow," the man answered smugly.

"Captain!" Elizabeth and Jack both corrected savagely.

Sora stepped away from the rampart and pulled up the sleeve of his leather jacket, watching Roxas warily. He summoned his Keyblade and pressed the tip of it against his forearm, his face twisting into an expression of pain and release. Flames escaped from the point of contact where skin met metal, licking up the sides of the blade.

"Sora! What are you _doing_?" Roxas hissed furiously. The voice seemed to draw Sora back into reality and he removed his Keyblade from his arm, pulling his sleeve immediately back down. He leaned back over the rampart, seeing now that the armed men were handcuffing Elizabeth.

"Follow me, and play along." In one smooth motion, he vaulted over the wall, landing cat-like on the sand below. He heard Roxas land behind him with a dull thud in the sand.

"Afternoon," he greeted, letting an uneducated accent seep into his speech.

The armed men, the short man from the East India Trading Company, and both Will and Elizabeth had stopped whatever they were doing to stare at the intruders from the sky.

Sora grinned lazily. "I love a good beheading," he commented. Then there was a long pause. Sora looked to each of the armed men. "Well? You gonna cut some heads off or no?" he demanded. Then he chuckled. "Or are they slated for hanging? That's always fun, too." He mimed a hanged man, holding his fist against the back of his neck, and let his head tilt forward, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

The short representative seemed to finally realize what was going on, and glared at Sora. "Just who do you think you are?"

Then Will seemed to recognize the two strange characters who had interrupted the arrest.

"Sora?!" he asked, surprised.

Sora's faltered for barely a moment, before cocking in eyebrow and crossing his arms. "Sorry kid, you must got the wrong man. Name's Avery, and this is my associate, Stone," he said, bowing and motioning to Roxas. Roxas bowed in suit.

"What do you want?" one of the armed men asked, pointing his rifle at him.

Sora shrugged. "Well, to be honest, I think this might be a few too many men for an arrest like this. I mean, these two aren't even pirates, they just associate with them. Do you really need eight armed riflemen to lock up these two?"

"Caution is the best policy," another riflemen answered.

Sora chuckled. "I believe the saying is 'honesty is the best policy', but close enough. And yes, caution to a point, but this is just stupid. One of the two you're arresting is a woman, and I don't think she would be able to put up much of a fight in one of those corsets. The other, well, he's just scrawny. Like I said, you don't need eight men."

"What's you're point?" the representative snapped.

Sora smirked at him. "What's your name?"

"Lord Cutler Beckett," the representative answered, puffing out his chest and trying to look important.

Roxas snickered. "Can I call you Shorty?" he asked.

Beckett growled. "How dare you speak to me that way!!" he shouted indignantly, his voice sounding very much like a female shriek. This only caused Sora and Roxas to laugh more.

"What is your business here?!" he asked, clearly getting angrier by the second.

"Well, as I was saying, you have far too many soldiers here for such a boring arrest. I thought I might make it a little more interesting. Give your men a good challenge, and if you actually manage to catch us, you'll be able to claim that you caught two pirates instead of two friends of pirates, eh?" Sora suggested, winking at the nearest man.

Instantly, Will and Elizabeth were forgotten and all guns were pointed at Sora and Roxas. Beckett lifted his hand, palm out, a signal to his men to hold.

"How do I know this isn't a ruse to help your friends?" he asked, motioning to the couple, who were now clinging to each other.

"These two? I've never met these characters in my life, though if I heard correctly, they be friends of Cap'n Sparrow. I dunno how he could possibly stand spending time with these straight-laced types. Even some of the lovely ladies of Tortuga are far too land-lovin' for my taste, eh?" Sora grinned evilly. "Though, this one's certainly pretty enough," he added, winking at Elizabeth, earning a gasp of distaste from her, and a growl from Will.

Roxas shook his head. "Relax, we won't touch your girly. Well, I won't at least. She's too old for my taste. But, Avery here, he'll go after any pretty lady he lays eyes on. I'd watch out for him if I were you," Roxas said to Will, nudging Sora. Sora grinned maniacally in reply.

"ENOUGH!" Beckett cried. "I don't believe a word of it. Smith, Johnson, take these Miss Swan and Mister Turner to the jail. The rest of you, arrest these two!" he ordered, pointing at Sora and Roxas.

Sora laughed. "It's gonna take all of your men, _plus _some, to catch us!!" he announced, before taking off down the beach. Roxas took off after him, and the six soldiers ordered to arrest them behind him.

About half way down the beach, the soldiers began to fire at them.

"Shit! Rox, this way!" Sora said, veering towards the line of palm trees growing along the wall of the fort. He jumped at the wall and kicked off of it, shooting upwards and towards one of the palm trees. He hit it feet first, the tree bending with the force of his collision, and then whipping back up, acting as a springboard for Sora to clear the wall and land on a roof just inside the fort.

"LOOK OUT!" Roxas shouted. Sora looked up on time to see Roxas land on top of him, sending them both rolling down the roof and into a pile of wooden crates below. Groaning, Roxas sat up.

"Damnit, couldn't we have landed over there?" he asked, pointing at a cart loaded with fresh cut sheep wool.

Sora stood up and brushed himself off. "Of course not. That would be far too easy. At least we lost those riflemen for the time being." He paused looking around at the handful of people who had stopped their activities to stare at two oddly clothed characters who had just fallen off of a roof. "Tell those riflemen where we've gone and you'll all have worse things to deal with than a couple of morons with guns," he threatened, before sprinting off down an alleyway.

They ran down an endless series of streets, trying to keep from getting lost. "Where are we going?" Roxas asked finally.

Sora frowned. "The plan was to go find Will and Elizabeth, and get them to Jack. He can help them make a run for it while we go on to the next planet. But I'm not even sure we're going in the right direction anymore…" he said, looking around.

Roxas crossed his arms. "Well, the jail is over in that direction," he said, pointing towards a wall. "And the beach is in that direction. If we want to cut off the riflemen who have Will and Elizabeth, we don't want to be back tracking that way. I say we go this way," he decided.

Sora nodded. "Lead away."

They ran off in the direction that Roxas had indicated. In a moment later, they heard an angry shout. It sounded like Elizabeth. "This way!" Roxas said, motioning for Sora to follow. The pair raced around a corner and skidded to a stop on the street. About a block away, were the two riflemen with Will and Elizabeth.

Sora tensed to take off at a run down the street, but froze when he felt a sharp point pressing on his back.

"I would advise against moving," a reedy voice said.

"Beckett. Very clever. I'm impressed you caught us so quickly. I must've underestimated you."

"Actually, I think you may have overestimated yourselves. You two are possibly the worst pirates I've ever seen."

Will and Elizabeth, along with their captors, reached them at that moment.

"So, you want to save your friends?" Beckett asked, making a wide motion towards the couple.

"Why'd you ask?" Sora asked in reply, sounding like he didn't care whether or not Will and Elizabeth lived or died.

"If you can prove that you are in fact a wanted pirate, then I'll destroy the warrants for the arrest of Elizabeth Swan, Governor Swan and William Turner, in exchange for your arrest," Beckett offered, feeling far too important once again.

"Fine," Sora answered, tugging at his sleeve. He lifted his arm, revealing a "P" shaped brand scarred into his arm, the mark of a convicted pirate. As something of an afterthought, Sora decided he'd flip off Beckett while he was at it. He knew Roxas saw the gesture, because he could hear the blond snickering beside him.

Beckett went red when he saw it. "ARREST THEM! NOW!" he bellowed furiously.

"Ah, let them go first!" Sora said, speaking now to Beckett little he was a child.

"Release Miss Swan and Mr. Turner," Beckett ordered reluctantly.

"And the warrants," Roxas added, wagging his finger.

Scowling, Beckett tore up the warrants. Then, he pointed at the jail. "Now take them away!" he shouted, giving Sora and Roxas one last look of disgust before turning on his heel and walking away. Two of the riflemen grabbed Sora, another two grabbing Roxas, dragging the boys up the hill towards the jail. Will and Elizabeth were left huddling in the middle of the street, watching the two supposed pirates poke fun at their captors the entire way to the jail.

Will wrapped one arm around Elizabeth's soaked form. "I'm not sure I understand what just happened."

"I think…two pirates just turned themselves in to keep us out of the gallows…" Elizabeth answered slowly.

"Elizabeth!" a relieved sounding voice could be heard from down one of the side streets. A moment later, Governor Swan came running into view, followed closely by a handful of servants. Reaching his daughter, he let himself smile. "Thank goodness you're safe!" The servants gathered around Elizabeth. One of them held a thick, warm cloak, which she draped around her shoulders. Then, she took Will's hand and took off towards the jail.

"We have to go see those two pirates!" she said in explanation, ignoring the surprised shouts of the household behind her.

Will just nodded in silent agreement, and they ran together up the hill and to the jail.


	11. Chapter 9

_Okay all! Reviews seem to be fixed, so I'm happy :) I got most of the reviews that had been lost, so thanks to everybody! From now on out, we start to see a more serious side to Sora's emo-ness and the plot begins to thicken... generally into a pudding-like texture..._

**Chapter 9**

By the time Will and Elizabeth reached the jail, Sora and Roxas had been locked safely away, so the guards had left the two convicts alone for the time being. Sora was sitting with his back to the bars, staring up at the tiny square window letting in a slight bit of light. Roxas was sitting with his back against a wall, amusing himself by tracing the lines on the palm of his hand.

"You," Will said breathlessly, when he reached the cell.

Sora twisted around. "Me?" he asked, looking absolutely bored.

"Why did you do that for us?" Elizabeth demanded, drawing her cloak tighter around her.

"Because I don't plan on sticking around in this dungeon for long, and I figure it'll be easier for me to stay out of trouble after breaking out than it would be for you to."

"But why would you help us, unless we have something you want? You're a pirate, so what do you want in return for your help?" Will asked, suddenly suspicious.

Roxas lifted his eyes, watching the couple on the other side of the bars through his bangs. Then he let out a chuckle. "You actually think we're pirates? I thought you recognized Sora back on the beach," he commented.

Both Will and Elizabeth looked to Roxas, and then back at Sora again, eyes widening.

"It _is_ you!"

"Obviously. Sorry about that stuff I said, though. Had to act pirate-y." He looked up at Will, smirking. "You're not scrawny. Well, not _that_ scrawny," he added, grinning.

Will chuckled. "You know, I _could_ get you out of here, but being scrawny and all, I'm not sure if I can manage," he answered, looking smug.

"Can't risk getting you into any more trouble. We'll break ourselves out later," Sora explained.

"How?" Elizabeth asked, sounding sincerely curious.

Sora cocked an eyebrow. "I wield a huge-ass key that can unlock any door," he said by way of answer.

"Oh. But I feel like we should do something to help," Elizabeth said.

Sora shook his head. "If you want to help, lay low for a while. When we escape, you'll probably be suspected, so stay out of trouble. That way it'll be harder for them to prove that you had anything to do with our jail break. It would be such a waste for us to go through all the troubles of saving you, only to have you get caught again."

"We would have found our own way out of this mess, you know. Why did you do this? There are so many other people that depend on you, but you get yourselves arrested to save us. Why?" Will asked

Sora watched the couple for a moment, his expression suddenly changing, his own pain resurfacing. "You've found your light, Will. Never let her go."

Will with taken aback and slightly bewildered by the comment. It took him a moment to regain his senses. "You didn't answer my question," he said finally.

"Look, what if something goes wrong with my plan? I'll be hung. I'll die. I'll move from one darkness and into another. It's no big deal. But if you'd been caught and something had snagged your escape plan, and you had been put to death, you would have lost each other. Your deaths would be tragic. Mine would just be a mild inconvenience." Sora's tense and pained expression was suddenly masked with arrogance. "Besides, I don't plan on dieing, and no offense, but I trust myself to actually escape far more than I trust you two to manage it."

Everyone was very still. Apparently Sora's cocky joke had done nothing to lift the tense atmosphere that had been caused by his admission of undervaluing his own life. He scowled. "Look, get out of here before someone comes along and decides to accuse you of smuggling us in a key."

Still silent, Will and Elizabeth disappeared down the hall on their way out. Once he was sure that they were out of earshot, Roxas lifted his face to look at Sora, his lips forming a tight line. "A mild inconvenience?"

Sora looked back at the blond, his eyes hardening. "That's right."

"For who?" Roxas demanded.

Sora blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Obviously it would only be a mild inconvenience for you, since you seem so convinced that you're life's worth shit. You're such a selfish bastard."

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Sora questioned, his own voice rising.

"Whether you like it or not, every other damn person in existence values your life far more than you apparently do, and if you weren't so self-absorbed, you wouldn't be so inclined to throw it all away! You have _no idea_ the kind of pain you would cause other people if you got yourself killed!"

"Don't give me that shit, Roxas. I know damn well that I've managed to alienate every person who ever gave a shit about me, and I know that if I was to die today, they might cry at my funeral, but then their daily lives would go on as if nothing had changed. No one _really _cares anymore!"

"No, you just _wish_ that you'd alienated everyone so that you wouldn't have anything or anyone left to care about. I know you think that you caring too much was what got you into this mess in the first place. You can't hide this stuff from me. I'm your other half."

"I think you might be surprised at what I can hide from you, _Roxy_," Sora growled, speaking Roxas's nickname with acid in his voice.

They sat in a very uncompanionably angry silence for the rest of the day.

Late that night, the rain had stopped, but there was still cloud cover outside, which meant no moonlight. It was very dark inside the cell, with the only light coming from a torch in a stairwell a little ways down the hall. Roxas had curled up in the far corner, where he could escape the dull flickering of the torch. Sora was leaning against the opposite wall, blocking out the light by draping his leather jacket over his head. Sora was normally a very light sleeper, but he was only half-asleep at the moment, making him even more aware of his surroundings, so when the cell door began to make a clicking sound, he was instantly aware of it. At first, he didn't move. He couldn't be sure if it was just the door creaking, or if there was someone there. If there was someone there, he had no idea who it was. Shifting his jacket slightly, he peered out at the door from a small space between the leather and the wall. He saw a figure standing tense at the door. It was too dark to see what his person was doing; he could only see a silhouette. Whoever it was, they were wearing a hood. That or they were bald and very thick in the neck. Sora forced that decidedly stupid thought out of his head and continued trying to figure out who this person was. The figure was tall, taller even than Sora. They were broad in the shoulders, but thin in the waist and hips. It was hard to tell the shape of the legs, since the figure was apparently wearing pants too baggy to reveal any sort of contour. There was light flickering off of the figure's arm from the distant torch, revealing that they were pale skinned, and showing some muscle tone, thought it was difficult to tell just how much. Then, Sora was drawn out of his observation since the door let out a reluctant grinding, like rusty gears moving into place. The figure froze for a moment, and then, when they seemed to be sure that no one had heard the noise, the silhouette moved slightly and pulled the cell door open. The movement caused the figure to twist, allowing the dim torchlight to illuminate a strand of hair that had escaped the cover of the hood.

Silver.

Sora lurched forward, choking on his own voice. The silhouette froze, his head whipping around to look at the desperate brunette. In the next instant, the silver-haired shadow took off at a sprint down the hall, disappearing silently into the darkness.

Sora scrambled towards the door. "WAIT!" he called out before he could stop himself.

There was a bang and some footsteps from above. The mystery figure was long gone, but the guards had heard his strangled shout. Sora jumped into action, forgetting his shock and twisting around to shake Roxas awake.

"Up! Get up!" he commanded.

Roxas rolled over and stumbled to his feet. "What, what, what's wrong?" Roxas asked, slurring his words in his tired state.

"We're leaving, now!" Sora answered, grabbing Roxas by the arm and dragging him out the door. They ran towards the stairwell, able to hear the thudding sounds of the guards boots against the stone steps. They ran just past the doorway to the spiral steps, and pressed themselves against the wall as the guard rounded the corner. The guard stepped out of the stairwell and into the hall. Sora's hand shot out, hitting the guard in the side of the head. The soldier stumbled into the wall and slumped to the floor in near silence.

Sora and Roxas stayed very still for a long minute, making sure that no one else was coming, before they decided to finally make a run for it. They ran up the stairs and along another hallway before bursting out the next door and into an archway, a road tunnel underneath a thick wall. They moved towards the end of the archway, keeping hidden in the shadows against the walls.

"I thought we weren't planning on breaking out until near dawn," Roxas hissed.

"That was the plan. I was thinking we could wait until just before the guards changed watches. It would've made the escape easier, but plans changed."

"Can I ask why?" Roxas asked, his voice harsh.

Sora paused, the words getting stuck in his throat. "The door was unlocked," he finally managed to say.

"What?!"

"Come on!" Sora said, instead of answering, seeing a group of approaching torches. He couldn't see the people holding the torches, but he didn't want to risk encountering a squad of soldiers. The less evidence they left of their escape, the easier it would be for Will and Elizabeth to claim no part in it. They ran out of the archway and veered into a side street, weaving through the thin paths among the houses and shops, towards the beach and the ramparts where their gummiship waited, hidden.

When they reached the gummiship, Roxas cornered Sora.

"What do you mean, the door was unlocked? Who unlocked it?"

"I dunno, I couldn't see him in the dark," Sora mumbled in reply.

"You're lying…" Roxas said, nearly singing out the accusation.

Sora didn't answer. He got into the gummiship and sent the engine roaring to life, sending a handful of noctural birds that had gathered nearby scattering. He sat very still, staring out the front window, waiting for Roxas to join him. Once everything was ready, he took off, still silent. Roxas never said anything more about it, but as they flew through the void of space towards their next generation, Sora looked down at the palm of one of his hands, flying the ship with the other, and stared at the series of four, cresent shaped marks in his skin – a result of his nails digging into his skin during that moment in which his dam broke, and the emotion he worked so hard to avoid came pouring in. The dam break that was caused by Aerith -- Aerith and her damnable innate understanding of other people.

_He never stopped caring about you._

"Ya fucking right," Sora growled, earning a puzzled look from Roxas. When the blond turned his attention back to the radar screen, he let out a muffled gasp.

"Oh shit! Sora! We have Heartless ships coming from every direction! We're completely surrounded," he said, barely keeping tabs on panic.

"Rox, take the guns. I'll have to keep my full attention on keeping us from getting shot, so you have do be the one to return fire."

"Got it."

Sora increased the speed of the ship smoothly, flying directly at the Heartless ships that were becoming visible in the distance ahead of them.

"I'm going to try to outrun the ones behind us, so I'll stay forward moving all the time. Try to take out as many of the ones directly ahead of us as you can. Don't worry if some get behind us and start shooting. I'll keep us out of their fire. You just concentrate on clearing us a path out of here. Where's the closest planet?"

"Halloween Town," Roxas answered, glancing at the maps posted on the cockpit's wall.

"Then we're off pay a visit to Jack Skellington," Sora decided, altering the course of the ship slightly to put them on a path to Halloween Town.

The rain of Heartless fire started shortly thereafter. Sora pulled hard to the left, rolling the ship over and pulling them out of path of the attack. Roxas returned a blast of fire, knocking out three of the ships in the first wave, and a fourth in the next. Sora rolled the ship back over and gunned the engine, sending the gummiship speeding through the hole that had opened up. Roxas took out the handful of Heartless ships that remained in front of them.

"We've got a clear path to the planet from here, so start shooting down the ones attacking us from behind," Sora ordered, pulling up and zig-zagging through the empty space between their ship and the planet, to avoid the shots fired from behind. A series of bangs told Sora that Roxas had hit the mark, and he rolled the ship over again, taking advantage of the moment of space before the Heartless ships closed the gap and began to rain fire on them again. There was another bang, but this one was closer, and the gummiship shook with the force.

"We took a hit, just above the right engine," Roxas said, aiming and returning fire.

Sora nodded. "The damage isn't too bad," he answered, accelerating. "The engine hasn't taken any damage. We should be okay to reach Halloween Town. If we need repairs, we'll get them done when we land." He sounded confident, and pushed the ship to outrun the Heartless crafts that were beginning to slowly fall behind. Then, out of nowhere, two Heartless ships dove at them from above. Sora veered to the right to avoid a collision, but the wing of the second ship grazed the wing of the gummiship, tearing it. The tip of the wing ripped off, hitting the tail and taking a chunk of the rudder with it.

"SHIT!" Sora shouted, trying desperately to regain control at the ship began to spin out of control. "Brace yourself! I can't control it!"

The Heartless ships withdrew, satisfied with the sight of the gummiship plummeting towards the planet's surface.

Sora gave up trying to control the ship and wrapped his arms around himself, holding his head in his hands to keep himself from getting a concussion, though he knew that the ship was falling fast enough that a concussion would be the least of his worries upon landing.


	12. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Sora was surprised to find that the ship didn't come to a jarring stop as he had expected it to. It almost felt like it had landed on a very large, very squishy bed. He sat, frozen in place for a long time, until he heard Roxas speak.

"We're not dead?" the blond asked, sounding surprised.

"Guess not…" Sora answered, just as dumbfounded. Their gummiship was wrecked, but they were more or less unharmed. Stepping out of the ship, they found themselves standing in an ocean of what looked like pink cotton candy. There was a handful of trees scattered about, poking out from the pink fluff, with bright red leaves that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be heart shaped. Hiding behind those trees were two cherubim, blue-eyed and golden-winged. They peeked out at Sora and Roxas with interest.

"Damnit, we _are_ dead, and heaven's actually made of fluffy clouds and shit," Roxas commented with a scowl.

"What makes you so sure that we'd be allowed into heaven? Maybe this is hell," Sora answered.

"Sure feels like it."

One of the little angels finally came out from behind the tree and approached them.

"Quite a fall you took there! Welcome to St. Valentine's Town!" he greeted, although whether or not this angel was actually male was fully up for debate in Sora's opinion.

"So, this place is all about Valentine's Day, eh?" he replied, before whispering to Roxas, "That explains why I hate it already."

"How do we get to Hallowe'en Town from here?" Roxas asked.

The angel looked both of them over. "Ah, I suppose I should have guessed where you were headed. I'll show you where to go," he offered with a smile before gliding off towards his companion. Sora glowered at his retreating back.

"What was that supposed to mean? _I should have guess where you where headed. _Hmph! I look nothing like some Hallowe'en weirdo!" he muttered.

Roxas laughed. "You do so. You scared that kid on the beach on the Destiny Islands, remember?"

"Whatever."

The pair of cherubim returned, the male one introducing his friend. "This is Lisa. My name is Mark. If you would follow us, we'll show you how to get to the other towns."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

"JACK!" a panicked voice shrieked. "JACK! HALLOWEEN IS ONLY A WEEK AWAY! YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY ABANDON ME NOW! JAAAAAACK!"

Sora and Roxas walked into the main square of Hallowe'en Town on time to see the Mayor run through the gate to Jack Skellington's house. Approaching him, they saw him run up to the door, try to shout up to the window, and then fall over backwards and roll down the steps.

"Jack's missing?" Sora asked casually.

"Oh! You! You're the one who helped us before, yes? Help, help, help! JACK, WHERE ARE YOU?! I can't find him anywhere, and Hallowe'en is in a week! A WEEK! What am I going to do?!" With that, the Mayor went running off in another direction, only to come running back, shouting even more loudly.

"HEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

And following him were a handful of Heartless, loping along, their beady eyes fixed on the stumbling Mayor.

A smirk formed on Sora's face as he summoned his Keyblade. He smashed his weapon into the first Heartless as it tried to leap across the gap between the Mayor and itself. Sora knocked it out of the air and into the others, causing the Heartless to hesitate in their pursuit. It gave the Mayor the moment he needed to escape through a gate and close it behind him, locking himself into the safe, small court near Jack's house. The Heartless that Sora had flung recovered surprisingly fast, using its scrambling cohorts to spring itself back towards its attacker, crashing claws first into Sora's chest.

"Shit!" Sora growled, dropping his Keyblade. He grabbed the Shadow's antennae and tore the creature off of him, breaking the monster's neck in the process. He didn't even have time to pick his Keyblade back up before another Heartless leapt at him. He knocked it back with a punch, but it threw itself at him against as soon as it touched the ground. Sora ducked, picking up his weapon, and the creature flew into the stone fountain behind him. It didn't get up again.

Meanwhile, Roxas had sliced one Heartless clean in half and was parrying a blow from another, while a third crept unnoticed up behind him. He fought off his target, and looked up on time to see Sora throwing his Keyblade at him.

"ROX! DUCK!"

Roxas leaned out of the way of the airborne weapon and froze when he heard a crunch and an unearthly cry. The Heartless attacking him from behind fell into him, knocking him forward, and he turned to see the creature collapse, Sora's Keyblade still buried in its chest.

"Umm, thanks," Roxas breathed, his eyes wide.

"No problem," Sora answered, chuckling breathlessly. He summoned his Keyblade back to himself and threw it into the air, jumping up to catch it and landing gracefully back on the ground again. He swung the weapon idly through the air, enjoying the weight of the metal in his hand. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to feel the adrenaline pump through his veins. He felt more alive than he had in a while - despite, or perhaps partially because of, the dull ache in his chest from the injury inflicted by that first Heartless.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Roxas watching him curiously. He frowned pensively and inspected his blade. "Is it really sick of me to be happy right now?"

"Huh?"

"Is it really sick for me to be happy that the Heartless are back?"

"To put it bluntly: yes, it's absolutely twisted," Roxas answered, his expression mirroring his disbelief and disgust.

Sora sighed and nudged open the door of the courtyard where the Mayor was hiding. Currently, the short politician was cowering under the stairs.

"It's not that I'm happy the Heartless have returned as much as it is that I'm happy to have some purpose to my life again. It was mind-numbingly boring between the last attack and this one," Sora explained.

Roxas shook his head. "Have you ever thought of finding a hobby?"

"I have a hobby."

"Other than killing Heartless, I mean."

"Why would I want a hobby other than killing Heartless?" Sora asked, whipping his Keyblade into the air again.

Roxas didn't answer. He just shook his head again and walked into the courtyard, leaning over to the bottom of the steps and peering through them at the poor Mayor, still trembling in the shadows.

"It's alright, Mr. Mayor. The Heartless are gone," he said, motioning for the little man to come out.

"Oh dear, oh dear, it's _not_ alright! Jack's still missing!!" he wailed.

"What do you say we go looking for ol' Jack?" Sora asked, crossing his arms. "He's probably playing in the snow in Christmas Town again."

"We'll be back, Mayor. And we'll bring Jack with us," Roxas said, straightening up.

With that, they disappeared down the road towards the forest, where the doors to the other towns were.

When they reached Christmas Town, they found the place crawling with Heartless. And down the hill, in the center of the square, Jack was defending both himself and the merry-go-round, on top of which Sally, Santa and a handful of elves were sitting. They were armed with snowballs, and attempting to aid Jack in the fight. Sora and Roxas dove into the fray, clearing a path to the merry-go-round and then situating themselves around the amusement ride to help Jack protect it. With the addition of the two new fighters, the Heartless thinned out quickly, and the remaining creatures scattered, disappearing into the shadows.

Roxas watched them disappear. "Where'd you think they went?"

"To find a bigger Heartless to squish us," Sora answered, swinging his Keyblade and walking around the merry-go-round to where Jack was standing, poised and facing a large, long-limbed robot-like Heartless that emerged from a forest of pine trees a good distance away. It lumbered towards them, letting out a metallic roar as it went.

"Good to see you, Sora," Jack said, swinging his arms from side to side and keeping his hollow eyes on the Heartless.

"Glad we got here when we did," the brunette answered, holding his Keyblade at the ready as the monstrosity approached.

"Sora's having fun," Roxas snickered, standing at Jack's other side.

"Sally, go inside, and take the others with you. You'll be safer in there," Jack ordered. Sally nodded and Jack twisted around to help her down. Sora and Roxas stepped up to cover Jack while he got Sally and the elves down. Santa managed to climb down on his own, and led the small group into his workshop for protection. They barred themselves inside, and Sora smirked.

"Let's get this fight going, shall we?" he suggested, tensing and ready to launch his attack. Jack and Roxas followed suit. The robotic Heartless walked towards them, swinging a metal-clawed hand at them. Sora stepped nimbly out of the way and ran towards the gangly legs, slamming his Keyblade into the knee joint. Jack and Roxas both ducked underneath. As soon as the claws were clear, Roxas ran to join Sora, using the monster's now-bent legs to swing himself upward and bury his Keyblade through the thin aluminum. The Keyblade ripped down through the torso of the robotic creature, but caught on something, jarring Roxas and sending him flying from the Heartless, his Keyblade still stuck inside. Jack started towards Roxas to aid the blond, but a scream from Sally inside the workshop made him stop. He turned and ran to the door, tried to open it, but found it still barred. Evidently, there had been Heartless inside, hidden and poised to attack. There were small windows on the doors, through which he could see the fight. The entire workshop was filled with Heartless, and Sally, Santa and the elves were using anything and everything they could find to defend themselves. The elves were armed mostly with the little tools they used to build the toys: hammers, screwdrivers, and even a few rulers. A few others, as well as Santa, had armed themselves with toys; Santa had a hockey stick, a few of the elves were carrying baseball bats, and one even had a pair of toy trains cars linked together, which he was using like nunchaku. A few other elves were sitting on lamps hanging from the ceiling, throwing jacks at the Heartless below. Sally was standing closest to the door, and she had an action figure tied to a piece of ribbon, which she was swinging around. She wasn't hitting any Heartless, but they kept a five foot radius around her, to avoid being hit.

"Sally! Come open the door!" Jack called. Sally turned, and in doing so, moved the radius of her attack. She hit a Heartless, but lost the momentum of her swing. The toy dropped, and the Heartless closed in around her. She dropped as three creatures pounced.

"Sally!!!" Jack shouted, banging on the door.

Roxas appeared behind him. "Move," he ordered, looking through the crack between the doors, to the wooden plank barring them shut on the other side. He lined up his Keyblade and slammed it through the crack, hitting the plank with a loud crack. He hit it again for good measure and threw his weight against the doors. They burst open, breaking the plank in a shower of splinters. Jack and Roxas raced inside, taking out Heartless left, right and center. Jack reached Sally in a matter of moments, tearing the Heartless off of her and lifting her up, using his height to keep her out of the reach of any Heartless who might try to attack. Roxas fought to clear a path to the pile of gifts in the corner where Santa and the elves had congregated.

"Find your injured, and bring them here for protection!" Roxas barked. The elves leapt into action, scattering across the floor to find any of their own kind who might have fallen. Roxas, Jack and Santa stayed at the present pile, protecting Sally and the handful of injured elves who'd made it there themselves. Sally wasn't badly injured; all she had to do was re-sew herself. Once she was done with that, she went to work tending to the elves. It wasn't long before the Heartless were completely dispatched.

Jack looked over at Roxas. "Sora?"

"He's okay," Roxas said, closing his eyes. He could feel the adrenaline and aggression that came through Sora when he fought. He paused, though, when he felt a hint of panic rising in Sora's emotions. "Maybe not. I'm going out," Roxas said, heading towards the door. About halfway across the room, Roxas faltered. There was a loud roar and a bang from outside, and powerful surprise was coursing through Sora now. Then the emotions of a fight began to die down, to be replaced by vague suspicion. Obviously, Sora was no longer in any immediate danger. He took another step and was hit by more of Sora's emotion, like that which he had felt on the beach on the Destiny Islands, and that which he felt in Radiant Garden earlier, and that which he sometimes felt in the middle of the night when the pain of loss seemed to be able to catch up with the brunette. Only this time, it was worse than any of the rest of those, forcing a shout of pain from Roxas's throat. There was a flash of silver before the blonde's eyes, and then he passed out.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Sora jumped up and pulled Roxas's Keyblade from the monster, narrowly avoiding being hit, and tossed it to the fallen blonde. Jack's yell to Sally echoed towards them, and Roxas jumped to his feet.

"Going to help Jack," he blurted, sprinting around the robot Heartless towards the workshop.

Sora nodded and let his eyes settle on the creature. It was going to be a long fight. He narrowed his eyes, ducking at the Heartless kicked at him. Then, as the foot came back down again, he side stepped and slammed his weapon into the ankle joint. The leg buckled when any weight was put back down onto it, and the Heartless stumbled. Sora vaulted backwards, out of the way and onto the low roof of one of the houses. From there, he jumped from roof to roof, climbing higher and higher, to get a shot at the creature's head. By the time he reached the highest roof, the Heartless had regained its balance and was headed towards him. He launched himself from the roof, finding a foothold on the robot monster's shoulder, and slashed at its head. The beast let out an angered roar, and threw its head back, knocking Sora off of its shoulder. He landed badly, rolling through the snow with a grunt. When he sat up and managed to reorient himself, he found a large metal fist about to come down on his head. He threw his weight sideways, barely making out of the way. He scrambled to his feet, and summoned his Keyblade back to himself, but in the moment that it took, in which he didn't have his full concentration on his surroundings, the Heartless lashed out at him, sending him flying backwards into a wall. Growling, Sora got back to his feet, glowering at the creature.

_This might be harder than I thought. Do I wait for Rox and Jack to come back, or do I fight it out? _he wondered, his eyes flickering between the monster's two gangly hands.

His thoughts were answered in a moment though, as the Heartless let out an earsplitting cry, and fell forward. It hit the ground with a bang, and Sora was able to see that someone was standing on its back, holding a blade that was vaguely recognizable. Sora froze, his eyes wide and trained on the figure. It was the same person who had freed him from the gallows; the same tall figure, the same wide shoulders. He was dressed in a pair of dark, baggy jeans and a sleeveless back shirt. This time, the hood was down. He was standing with his back to Sora, his silver hair longer and more unkempt than the brunette remembered it being.

"Riku…"

The silver-haired figure tensed, and looked over his shoulder at Sora for only a split second, before taking off towards an alley of escape between two houses. Sora reacted instinctively, throwing his Keyblade at the roof of one of the houses. It hit its mark with a resounding thud, and all of the snow gathered on that roof slid off. The avalanche collided with the next house, knocking the snow off of that roof as well, and blocking off the alleyway in its entirety. Riku skidded to a stop, and stood staring at the wall of snow before him, not moving. He didn't look at Sora, but neither did he look for another escape route.

"I swear to which ever gods are listening, that I'll _never _forgive you if you fucking run away from me again," Sora said, his voice tight and breathless.

Riku twisted around now. "I don't have anything to apologize to you for," he answered, his voice acid.

The combination of the sound of Riku voice and the words that voice formed made Sora dizzy with pain and anger. "You think you haven't done anything wrong?" he demanded, fury overtaking all other emotion for the moment.

"Everything I've ever done is wrong, and I know it. But I'm sick of having you tell me so. If you hate me, then get the fuck away from me!" Riku's voice rose into a yell as he spoke, his own pain becoming clear.

"When the hell did you get the impression that I hate you?!" Sora asked incredulously.

"How about that last day on the Islands?" Riku shot back, turning fully around now.

"_You_ abandoned _me_!" Sora shouted savagely, taking a step forward.

"You told me you wanted to stay on the Islands!"

"Why the fuck would I want to stay there?!"

"How should I know? Still, I never questioned you, never doubted you _once, _but when I went back for you, you were gone."

"You left me with no explanation, no nothing! What did you expect me to do?" Sora spat, seething.

Riku took a few steps towards Sora and grabbed his shoulders, speaking through gritted teeth. "I wanted nothing more than to bring you with me! But then you told me that the one thing you wanted more than anything was for things to go back to normal, and I didn't want to take that away from you. I was the taint that was keeping everyone from accepting you, so I left. I left because I couldn't take being there anymore, and I left because I wanted you to have what you wanted and I was in the way of that."

Sora opened his mouth to give a scathing reply, but found that he couldn't. Riku had just said that he'd left the only home he'd every known for the sake of his friend. Suddenly Sora's anger evaporated, to be replaced with his usual mask, though his voice hinted at how lost he felt. "How could you have actually believed that I wanted everything to go back to the way it was? We both know it wasn't true. I was trying to be optimistic because it was how I dealt with everything. Pretend to be happy and eventually I'll actually be happy," Sora said, as if ashamed of the admission. He pulled away from Riku and glared up at him through his bangs.

"I was always jealous of you," Riku said suddenly. "No matter what happened, you always seemed to be able to bounce back. I thought you were just going to bounce back again, like you always did."

There was a long pause. "Why did you go back?" Sora asked, changing the subject.

"What?"

"Why did you go back to the Islands?"

"I went back within a week of leaving. You were the only person who wasn't afraid of me, and I couldn't take being alone anymore, so I went back to see if you would come with me, even though I knew you wanted to stay. I was even contemplating staying back on the Islands if you said no."

"But I wasn't there when you came back," Sora said slowly, suddenly regretting leaving as quickly as he had.

"And I knew I'd completely fucked everything up," Riku admitted, shaking his head.

"I though you said you weren't going to apologize."

"I'm not. I know I've screwed everything up, and I've lived through hell because of it. My pride is about the only thing I've got left, and I'm not about to lose that to an apology," Riku said stubbornly.

Sora shook his head. "That's not egotistical," he stated sarcastically, turning on his heel and walking towards the workshop. Riku watched him go with a blank expression. Sora paused and looked over his shoulder.

"Are you coming or not?"

"…What?"

"Look, I think I may have knocked Roxas out, and hopefully he won't freak out too badly about it if you're around when he wakes up. At least that way he'll know why I was so angry."

"Wait, you want me to come with you?" Riku asked, dumbfounded.

"The first thing I said to you was that I'd never forgive you if you ran away again. What the hell did you think I meant if I didn't want you to come with me?" Sora asked, looking mildly amused.

Riku was speechless, so he settled for just shrugging and following Sora into the workshop, where Jack and Sally were waiting for them.


	13. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"There's something wrong with Roxas!" Sally announced when she saw Sora walking towards where she and Jack were huddled over Roxas's prone body.

Jack twisted around. "Who might you be?" he asked Riku, watching him with his unnervingly hollow eyes.

"Riku," he answered, his tone short.

"Riku, this is Jack and Sally. Jack and Sally, this is Riku. He's an old friend," Sora said, leaning over Roxas and sighing. "There's nothing wrong with Rox. He does this whenever I get particularly upset."

"Oh, were you upset?" Sally asked, sounding concerned.

Sora nodded. "His fault," he said, jerking this thumb towards Riku. Riku scowled, but didn't argue with the accusation.

That's when Roxas groaned. "Holy shit…" he rolled over, not opening his eyes. "Axel…" he whined, sounding like he was calling to the Nobody. Sora and Riku looked at each other, Riku's eyes looking for an explanation, and Sora clearly not having one.

Roxas opened his eyes, blinked a few times and closed them again. "My head hurts so bad I can't even see… What the fuck did you give me?" he demanded, still apparently talking to the no-longer-existent Axel. "Don't try and tell me that was just vodka, you shit-head."

"Uhhh, Roxas?" Sora asked, poking his other hesitantly. "What are you talking about?"

"Eh? Sora?" Roxas asked, opening his eyes again. He looked around, and caught sight of Jack and Sally hovering over him. "Oh…I remember…" he muttered. Then he sat up suddenly, pressing his hand against his pounding head. "What the hell happened?" he demanded, glaring at Sora as best he could through his grimace. Before Sora could answer, though, Roxas's eyes fell on Riku. "You!" he bellowed, before falling back flat on the floor, groaning. He lifted his head to glare at Riku. "You're so damn lucky that I can't even stand up right now, otherwise I'd fucking kill you."

"Leave him alone, Rox," Sora said quietly.

"No way, not after what he did to you. If he's not gone by the time this headache passes, I'll kick his ass just like the last time we met, but this time I won't have _any_ mercy on him."

"He's coming with us, Roxas," Sora said matter-of-factly, as if daring Roxas to argue.

"_WHAT?!_" Roxas demanded, furious. He sat up and had to hold his head in his hands, but stayed sitting up this time. His body shook so badly with his anger that Sally had to steady him to keep him from falling over.

Sora rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Calm down, Rox! You're giving me a killer headache."

"Guaranteed not as bad as mine," Roxas retorted, burying his fingers in his hair, nearly digging at the scalp. He glowered up at Riku. "I'll start feeling much better once you get as far away from us as possible."

"Stop whining. Sleep off your headache and then we'll talk. Hopefully then you'll be sane again," Sora said, his tone turning sour.

"As long as he's gone by the time I wake up."

"Shut up and drink this," Sora ordered, holding out a bottle that Sally had produced from a pocket moments previous.

Roxas scowled and took the bottle, downing it all in one swig and grimacing at the taste. "What the hell is that stuff?"

"There's evening primrose for the pain, and valerian to help you sleep," Sally explained, holding Roxas's shoulders to keep the suddenly drowsy blond from falling over.

"Oh… tastes…bad…" he mumbled, slumping into Sora as the brunette tried hold him upright.

One of the elves approached them then, looking a little hesitant. "I have an extra large bed in the spare room of my house that he might be able to sleep in, if you'd like."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Sora finally managed to get Roxas into the bed, and straightened up, banging his head on the low ceiling for the tenth time in the past five minutes. He let out a low growl.

"Extra large bed my ass," he grumbled, watching Roxas sleep, curled up into a tiny ball on the mattress and only barely able to fit. He crouched and slipped out of the bedroom, into the hallway were Riku was waiting. Only there was no Riku. Furrowing his eyebrows, he looked around the room, confusion written all over his face. Then his eyes fell on the window at the end of the hall. It was open, the curtains fluttering in the faint breeze.

Sora shut his eyes and clenched his teeth. His breathing became laboured as he walked slowly towards the window. His eyes were still shut, but he could feel the bitingly cold air on his face. Riku had abandoned him. Again. Sora had been stupid to think that it would have turned out any other way. It was stupid to believe that Riku would have actually stayed. The sadistic bastard seemed to love tearing apart anything and anyone he had ever cared about. That or he just didn't give a shit about Sora anymore. Sora swayed on his feet, getting dizzy. Some part of his mind told him that reacting this way to Riku's disappearance wasn't going to help Roxas get any better any time soon, but it was too late for logic. He eyes flickered open, and he was about to let out a series of colourful words that would have traumatized anyone who might have been listening, but his voice caught in his throat. Riku was climbing back into the hallway through the window, looking worried.

"Are you okay?" he asked tentatively, tilting his head. He looked confused and a little uncomfortable, which in turn made him look vulnerable. It was strange for Sora to see Riku like that, because even though they hadn't seen each other for three years now, he still thought of Riku as the stronger of the two, always infallible. It surprised him to realize that he still felt that way, since he'd spent so much of the past years trying to convince himself that Riku was far more faulted that he'd ever believed before. And again, his anger evaporated

Riku, still looking unsure, continued, "I was sitting outside, on the roof. It's too cramped in here."

"Oh," Sora answered dumbly, trying to recover his cool. His head was spinning as he tried to decide whether or not this meant he could trust Riku to stay, and not going running off yet again. He wandered past Riku and pulled himself through the window, kneeling on the snow covered roof on the other side. He looked around at the view of the square in front of him before situating himself against the wall behind him, the window to his right. Riku climbed through a moment later, sitting with the window to his left.

A long silence stretched between them.

"I don't…" Riku started, before his voice died and he went quiet again.

"What?" Sora asked, crossing his arms and looking up at the stars.

"After everything that's happened, why do you want me to come with you?" Riku asked finally.

"Because I haven't seen you in three years. What have you been doing?"

Riku sighed. "Jumping from world to world. Avoiding the King, mostly."

"Uh…why?" Sora asked, twisting around to stare at him like he had two heads. He had always thought that Riku and the King got along well.

"Because he kept telling me I should be trying to find you instead of running away from you all the time," Riku admitted, frowning.

Sora stiffened. "You knew where I was the entire time I was looking for you?" he demanded, his voice going tight.

"I didn't want to be found."

"You told me that last time too, and you know how that turned out. At least last time you had an excuse for not wanting to be found."

"Huh?"

"Xehanort's Heartless was a hideous creature, so I can't exactly blame you for not wanting to be found looking like _that_. This time you don't have an excuse."

Riku decided to change the subject. "So, now that you know what I've been doing, do you want me to go away?"

"Is it really that hard for you to believe that I want you to stick around a little longer than five minutes?"

"To be honest, yes. Why don't you hate me?"

"I'm not going to accomplish anything by hating you. I'm kind of mad, I guess, but I'll get over it. I mean, that's what friends do and all, right?"

Riku gaped at Sora. "You still consider me your friend?"

"Yep. But if you don't think of me as a friend anymore, that's okay. We haven't seen each other in a long time, so I guess you feel like we've grown apart or whatever…"

"No, no, I still think of you as a friend. You're about the only one I have left," Riku answered, laughing bitterly. "Even your Other hates my guts."

"It's not his fault. He lost Axel, and it just about broke him, but then he had to live through it all again vicariously through me when you left." Sora sighed, massaging his knuckles. They were beginning to bruise. "He doesn't really hate you for coming back. He's just mad that you're not Axel." He hissed in pain when he hit a tender spot. "He's right to be mad, I guess. Things always end up turning out okay for me, but never for him. I fought you, but we ended up going back to the Islands as closer than we were before we left. Roxas fought Axel, and Axel ended up dead." He looked over at Riku, who was staring into the snow at his feet. He continued, "I left the Islands, abandoning everyone on it, and I have a girl back there who wants nothing more than for me to come back again, willing to forget that I hurt her. Roxas left Organization XIII and was labeled an enemy, forced to turn fugitive. He didn't have anywhere to go; he didn't belong with real people but his own kind was hunting him. And now that fate had decided one of us gets a reunion with an old friend, it's me that gets it instead of him. It's always that way."

"Why doesn't he just rejoin with you then? Let him experience your happiness when good things happen to you, instead of being jealous that they're not happening to him."

"Roxas would never admit that he was unhappy. He doesn't think he has a reason to be. Besides, he thinks that he does get to experience it whenever I'm happy. He's not experienced in emotion enough yet to understand the difference between feeling your own emotion and your Other's emotion."

"It's different?" Riku asked, clueless.

"Roxas feels my emotion in an almost purely physical way. When I saw you, I was angry, and any negative emotion like that converts into pain."

"So you get really angry and he passes out from the pain?"

"Exactly. His emotion affects me too, but not to quite the same degree. I'm not as sensitive to his emotion as he is to mine."

Riku nodded and glanced at Sora out of the corner of his eye. "Do you not find this at least a little bit weird?"

"What?"

"That we haven't seen each other in three years, but here we are, talking like…like…" Riku stopped, struggling for the right word.

Sora smirked. "Like we're friends? What else did you expect?"

"To be honest, I thought we would end up getting into a fist fight when I finally saw you again. We were both carrying around three years worth of anger and it was bound to turn into a fight. I couldn't take fighting you again, so I tried to run…"

"And clearly that was the wrong thing to assume, wasn't it?" Sora asked amusedly.

"I guess…" Riku answered, sounding unsure.

Sora glared at him, this expression suddenly turning angry. "What do you mean, you _guess_?" he demanded.

Riku didn't answer.

"Look," Sora said finally, "I've made my own opinions clear about the issue of you staying with us, but if you want to leave, then I'm not going to stop you."

"No, I…" Riku began, but stopped with another voice echoed towards them from inside.

"Mr. Sora! Mr. Sora!"

Sora leaned around to see the little elf who owned the house standing in the hallway. He smiled when he saw the brunette.

"Oh, there you are! Mr. Roxas is stirring. I imagine he'll wake soon."

"Thanks. Umm, thanks for letting him sleep here, but we need to find somewhere else to stay once he wakes up."

"Oh, alright. I'll go find Santa Claus. I'm sure he'll know where you can stay."

"Thanks," Sora replied as the short man walked back down the hall and disappeared down the steps.


	14. Chapter 12

_Woah, this chapter is SUPER intense. There's lots of angst in it, 'cause I know that's what ya love :) This is my favourite chapter so far, and I think will remain one of my favourites for the fic. So be happy!_

**Chapter 12**

Roxas woke up with a groan and a dull pounding in his head. It felt like his brain was too big for his skull.

"So, uh, Roxas… care to explain just what the hell you were talking about?" a voice asked casually.

Roxas opened his eyes, glaring blearily around the room until he caught sight of Sora leaning against the wall.

"Where's Riku?" Roxas demanded.

Sora's expression tightened, but he maintained his carefree tone. "Don't avoid the question. What were you talking about?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"_What the fuck did you give me last night, Axel? And don't try to tell me that it was just vodka, you shithead,_" Sora quoted, chuckling.

Roxas sat up and scratched his head. "Oh, I don't know. Axel always bought us alcohol whenever we were on a planet that required ID."

"We?"

"Me and Demyx. Dem was old enough, but he looked like he was too young and Nobodies don't get ID. Axel never got carded, so he did the buying, for us and Zexion sometimes too. Usually I would wake up with headaches like that after a particularly crazy night previous, and I'm pretty sure that Axel had put something in my drinks those nights."

"You think Axel was trying to drug you?" Sora asked, snickering.

"Sure. He was always trying to get in my pants," Roxas replied nonchalantly. At that, Sora burst into a fit of helpless laughter. Roxas couldn't help but laugh along with him.

Once they calmed down a little, Roxas continued. "So I take it Riku took my advice and booted it out of here," he said, looking around.

"I'm here." Riku said, appearing in the doorway.

Roxas glared darkly at him. "You still have time to run before things get messy."

"Don't try threatening me, Roxas," Riku shot back coldly.

"Both of you shut up," Sora ordered, straightening up. "If you're going to fight, then keep your mouths shut. Let's go talk to Jack. He says he has a place for us to stay until we figure out where to go from here."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Jack said that he could find them a place in another town to stay. Halloween Town wasn't an option: it was too busy with Halloween being only a week away. Not to mention the fact that people who weren't witches or skeletons or evil geniuses didn't find Halloween Town all that comfortable a place to stay.

"So, are the inhabitants of St. Patrick's Town short too?" Roxas asked, stretching out his legs. He was talking to Jack and Sally, but his eyes were on Riku, still suspicious as ever.

"They're leprechauns, if that's what you mean," Sally answered simply.

"So you're left with St. Valentine's Town and Easter Town," Jack observed.

Sora scowled. "Great. Is Easter Town pink and fluffy too?"

"Well, it's actually a couple of different pastel colours."

"Fluffy?"

"Yes."

"Damnit," Sora growled. Roxas looked equally upset. Riku was just confused.

"Umm, is fluffy bad?" he asked, having never been to either town.

"Alright, let me explain it this way. Our gummiship took some big damage and we crashed in Valentine's Town. I thought I'd died and gone to my own personal hell."

"Oh," was all Riku could say. His attention was fixed on Roxas, who looked like he was trying to kill Riku by giving him the evil eye.

Sora rolled his eyes. "I guess we can go to St. Valentine's Town. At least there will be some familiar faces there, if nothing else," he said reluctantly.

Jack nodded and began to lead them towards the doors to the other Towns.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

"Oh, hello! Back so soon?" Mark greeted, gliding towards them.

Sora tried to smile at him, but found the pink fluff surround them rather disgusting, so ended up with a kind of grimace on his face instead. Riku seemed to have a permanent wrinkle in his nose, as if there was an unpleasant scent that only he could smell. Only Roxas seemed unaffected by the sickeningly sweet environment. He was still glaring daggers at Riku.

"We need a place to stay while we repair our ship. Is there somewhere here where we can spend the night?" Sora asked.

"Sure! Please follow me."

As it happened, there was a little motel in St Valentine's Town where they could stay. Night was approaching fast and they decided to turn in so that they could get to work on the gummiship early.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Riku couldn't sleep. And to make matters worse, Sora, whose room was on the other side of the wall at the head of Riku's bed, was moving around and making noise. Rolling out of bed, he pulled on his shirt (he was sleeping in his jeans) and stepped out into the hall. He knocked on Sora's hotel room door and waited, tapping his foot with impatience. No answer came. Scowling, he knocked again. Still no answer.

"Sora! Open up! I know you're still awake," he called through the door. Still, Sora didn't answer. He pressed his ear to the door.

"SORA!" he called. He was met with silence on the other side. He grumbled and turned to go back to his own room when a strange sound issued from inside Sora's room. It was like a quiet, pained keening. Riku paused, listening, but the sound stopped as quickly as it had started. He hesitated at Sora's door, and then turned the doorknob. It was unlocked; the door swung open soundlessly. Silently, Riku stepped inside. The room was bathed in darkness, the only light coming from the full moon shining through the wide window on the far wall. He could see Sora's figure silhouetted against the pale light, completely still and statue-like. He stepped further into the room and noticed the strange posture that Sora had taken. The brunette was standing with his feet wide apart and knees slightly bent, as if braced for an attack. His shoulders were hunched, and it looked as if he was cradling one arm in the other.

Stepping closer still, Riku could see that Sora was wearing only his jeans; his shirt and jacket were discarded carelessly on the floor next to him. He was breathing slowly and deliberately, as if his careful breathing was an attempt to calm himself.

A quick movement made Riku freeze. Sora brought his right arm down to hang limp at his side. He was holding something in his hand, but it was impossible to tell what it was until he snapped it closed with a click: a switchblade.

If anyone else had been standing at that window, Riku would have known instantly what was going on, but this was Sora: Sora, full of life, even in the darkest of hours; his Sora.

The inky black figure by the window held very still for another eternal moment, and then lifted his arm, arching it high over his head, as if he were a dancer. He tilted his head up to look at it in the light cast across his tanned skin by the pale moon. It was an eerie sight, but more frightening still was the thick shadow coating the inside of his forearm. Riku wasn't sure what to make of it; he wasn't entirely sure of what it was. Then, a movement of the arm, ever so slight, caused a drop of the thick shadow to detach itself from the mass. It fell through the air for a moment, and then caught on the window, leaving a crimson streak on its surface, illuminated by the moon.

Riku launched himself forward, realization of just what was going on hitting him and nearly knocking the breath out of him. "What the-!" He kicked a small table, sending the lamp that was on it crashing to the floor and tripping. "FUCK!" he cried, falling forwards and ending up sprawling across the floor.

Sora spun, wide-eyed, dropping his blade into his clothing pile and pressing his right hand over his wound. "Riku! What the hell are you doing?!"

"Me!" Riku answered incredulously. "What the hell are _you_ doing?!" he demanded, getting to his feet.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Sora grumbled in reply.

Riku reached forward and grabbed Sora's left wrist, but Sora pulled away and stepped back, hissing in pain.

"Why are you doing this?" Riku asked quietly, staring down at his own hand now covered in Sora's blood.

"Because the reasoning behind me cutting myself is one of those things you can easily explain in ten words or less," Sora answered sarcastically.

Riku reached out again, this time grabbing Sora's right hand, and tried to pull him away from the window. The blood on both of their hands, though, made it easy for Sora to wrench his hand from Riku's grasp.

"I'm not finished," Sora announced defiantly, crouching down to rummage through his clothes for his knife.

Riku growled and grabbed and handful of Sora's chain, dragging the younger to his feet. Sora opened his mouth to protest, but Riku spoke first.

"Like I give a shit whether or not you're finished." With that, Riku started walking towards the bathroom, pulling Sora along behind him.

"Riku! You're going to break it!" Sora complained.

"Then make damn sure you keep following," Riku answered, his voice a low growl. He paused at the bathroom door to turn on the light, and then pushed Sora inside before walking in himself.

Sora glared at him, hugging himself in the cold light. "Why are you so mad?" he pressed, sulking.

"I'm not mad," Riku replied, his jaw clenched tight. "Mad doesn't nearly describe how furious I am with you." He turned on the tap and wet a cloth. "Sit," he ordered, without looking up from the sink. He wrung the cloth out so tightly that Sora thought it might rip.

Still sulking, Sora did as he was told and sat down on the edge of the bath tub.

Riku knelt in front of Sora and passed the cloth once over Sora's injured forearm.

Sora flinched, trying to pull his arm away, but Riku had a hold on his hand and wouldn't let him move.

"The least you could do is try to be a little gentler," he said, glowering at the older male.

"This coming from the one who enjoys mutilating himself," Riku answered, still unwilling to look Sora in the eye.

Unable to argue, Sora fell silent, cringing as Riku wiped more blood away. The red liquid continued to ooze out of his wounds as quickly as Riku could clean them.

"If you'd just leave it alone, it'll scab over by itself and then I can clean myself up," Sora said slowly.

"It'll get infected if you don't clean it out," Riku answered, his voice flat.

"It's never gotten infected before," Sora argued, growling as Riku wiped the cloth over his cuts once again.

Riku paused. "Just how often do you do this to yourself?" he asked, his voice betraying just barely restrained anger.

Sora shrugged, not wanting to answer, but when the cloth was passed one more time over his wounds, the bleeding stopped enough that the cuts and scars were finally visible.

Riku froze, able to now see just how scarred Sora really was. He gently touched the scar closest to the wrist; a "P" shape branded into the skin.

"This is why you were in the gallows in Port Royal?" he asked quietly.

"So it _was_ you who unlocked the door," Sora answered accusingly.

Riku nodded in reply, running his fingers over the "P" once more before moving on to the next shape: a larger cross shape branded into the arm a little closer to the elbow. It was more raised, and had uneven, bumpy edges; Sora had burned this one into his skin multiple times.

"What's this?" Riku asked, his voice going suddenly hoarse. He traced the shape with his finger tips.

"Burning has almost the same effect as cutting. It's not quite as…effective, but it's cleaner and faster. I brand myself when I know that I can't be guaranteed Roxas will give me privacy," Sora admitted.

"So Roxas doesn't know you do this," Riku said. It wasn't a question. He wondered how Roxas could possibly have remained blind to it. Wasn't he supposed to be Sora's other half?

Sora snorted. "Not a chance. Roxas hates it when I _smoke_. I don't even want to know what he'd do if he found out I was doing this," he answered bitterly.

Riku's fingers moved on to the next injury. He traced a circle around it, not touching it, since this one was actually a fresh cut into the skin. It was a crude heart shape, the jagged line running down the middle indicating that it was broken.

"Artistic," Riku commented finally, disgusted.

"It's not like I planned for it to come out in that shape," Sora retorted defensively.

"Oh, so your cutting just _happened _to end up in the shape of a broken heart?" Riku asked sarcastically.

"Fuck you," Sora snapped, getting up and pushing past Riku to leave. He felt Riku grab his good wrist and made to pull away, until Riku spoke.

"I'm sorry. It's just…it's really hard to sit here and listen to you talk about how you do _that_ to yourself…"

"Look," Sora ordered, turning around to face Riku and pointing to the center line of the heart. "See where this is?" he asked, tracing a major artery down from his wrist to where the jagged center of the heart crossed it. "I do this to myself now because it's the most intense thing that I'm capable of feeling anymore. It reminds me that I'm still alive. But it used to be that I didn't want to be alive. The first time I cut myself, this is what I did. I tried to cut open the vein and bleed myself…to death. Afterwards, I put the heart shape around it to…to try and forget what it really was, to try and forget what I almost did. I'll never forget, but I still try anyways."

"You…you tried…to…kill yourself…" Riku choked, pained and astonished. He was still holding Sora's wrist, and looking down at the scar, he noticed now that only the outside of the heart was freshly cut open; the jagged center line was one of the most healed scars on the tan skin.

"Riku," Sora said, tugging on his wrist. Riku's hand was so tight around his wrist that it was cutting off his circulation.

Riku let slowly go, his eyes falling now on the set of scars crossing the crease of Sora's elbow. From the outside to the inside, the scars became increasingly fresher, until the last one, which looked like it had been cut that night.

"What are these?" he asked, not sure that he wanted to hear the answer.

"They're…there's one for…there's one for every time you left… every time you ran away from me." Sora's eyes flickered to the floor as he spoke, ashamed of the admission.

Riku froze, his whole body going so tense that he began to tremble. There was a long silence.

"So I'm…the reason that you do this…"

"Don't give yourself so much credit," Sora replied instantly. "You're not the reason." He paused. "Well, you're not the _only_ reason," he admitted quietly.

"Why did you do this, then?" Riku asked, touching the center of the heart shape.

"Because I was alone," Sora answered reluctantly.

"You wouldn't have been alone if I had been there," Riku replied through gritted teeth, furious now with himself.

"But if you hadn't left me the last time, I never would have gotten off those Islands. I don't know what I would have ended up doing to myself if I'd stayed. Something worse, at least."

"I should have taken you with me," Riku said, crossing his arms.

"Yes, you should have," Sora replied honestly and pushing his way back into the hotel room. He picked his t-shirt up off the floor and pulled it on over his head, and then pulled open his bag, rummaging through it. Riku watched curiously as Sora pulled two unassuming strips of cloth out of the bag and wrapped them deftly around his arm, one over the heart-shaped scar, the other over his elbow. Then he pulled his jacket on over top.

"I'm going out for a smoke."

"Wait, you smoke?" Riku asked, gasping.

"Yep. Coming out with me? Or do you want to go back to bed?" Sora asked, sounding like he didn't care one way or the other.

"I'll come."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Sora sat down on the fluffy ground, leaning back against the pink-bricked wall. He lit the cigarette and took a drag, exhaling the smoke through his nose. He poked at the fluff with the smoldering tip. The cotton-candy-like substance singed quickly. Sora started coughing when he caught the scent of it; it smelled like burning sugar.

Riku sat down next to him and crossed his arms. "Don't smoke then," he said simply.

"Huh?"

"If it's going to give you coughing fits, then stop smoking," he explained, not looking at Sora as he spoke.

"It's not the cigarette, it's the burning fluff," Sora answered, letting the cigarette hang from his lips and inhaling slowly. Then he took it from his mouth and formed an "o" with his lips, crossing his eyes and exhaling carefully. Then he grinned.

"I made a smoke ring," he said, poking at the hole in the center with his finger. He grinned at the novelty of it.

Riku laughed. "You're still such a little kid."

"A very talented little kid who can blow smoke rings," Sora answered, trying again. It didn't work as well this time, coming out in more of a disk shape. He tried making a hole in the center by poking a hole through it with his cigarette, but only managed to make the entire shape disintegrate. "Damn," he said scowling.

Riku laughed again, shaking his head.

Sora tried to trace the shape of a ring with the smoke rising from the tip of the cigarette, but that possibly turned out worse. He sighed, took another drag, and carefully blew another ring. Then he grinned. "Aha!"

"Grats," Riku said, rolling his eyes.

Sora lifted one eyebrow. "You think it's easy to do that? You try," he said, holding out his cigarette and grinning cheekily.

Riku shrugged. "How hard could it be?" he decided, taking the cigarette from Sora and putting it experimentally to his lips. He took a big drag, inhaling as much as he could. Apparently he thought it would help him make a good smoke ring, but all it did was send him into a violent burst of coughs. He put his hand over his mouth, wisps of smoke escaping through his fingers.

Sora shook his head, trying not to laugh, and grabbed Riku's wrist, pulling his hand down from his mouth. "Don't do that, you're just going to make yourself breathe the smoke back in again," he choked, still trying to hold back his laughter.

"Okay…" Riku managed to reply amid more coughing. When he finally stopped, he grinned, pointing to the smoke rising above and away from them. "Hey look, it kind of looks like a frog. And that one is like an elephant," Riku said, obviously entertained by the novelty of it.

Sora smirked. "Great. All I can make are rings. That seems a little boring now, compared to your zoo you got there," he said, snatching back his cigarette and flicking the ash off of the tip. He took a drag and blew a stream of smoke back out again, putting no effort into it.

Riku nudged him. "Don't be so hard on your smoke-blowing abilities. Look, you just made a…umm… a snake!" he said, pointing to the thin S-shape billow of smoke rising out of Sora's mouth.

Sora laughed. "That's not a snake. Snakes have those weird wing-things on their heads," he said, tracing out the shape of a snake's hood beside his own head.

"Cobras are the only snakes that have those," Riku told him.

"Cobras are the only snakes cool enough to blow smoke-shapes of," Sora retorted, trying to recover.

"Cobras are cool, I guess, but I'm a fan of flying snakes myself."

"_Flying_ snakes?! You have got to be shitting me."

"Nope. I saw one once. They go from tree to tree, slithering through the air. They have them in the Deep Jungle, you know."

"Really?! We should go pay a visit to Tarzan and Jane then. I want to see one of these flying snakes."

There was a long silence, and Sora leaned back, resting his head against the bricks. "So, you're not mad anymore about the…" his voice trailed off, and he ran his fingers along the inside of his forearm, gasping when his fingers pressed against any fresh cuts.

"Not mad," Riku said slowly, "just… upset."

"Well, that's quite the distinction," Sora complained.

Riku sighed heavily. "Okay, I mean, I'm not angry with you, but it's not exactly pleasant to walk into your hotel room and find you doing _that_."

"Then don't walk into other people's hotel rooms unannounced."

"It wasn't unannounced. I knocked on your door and tried to call through to door. You just didn't bother answering."

There was a pause. "Oh. Right…" Sora said, grinning sheepishly.

Riku sighed, smiling reluctantly. They fell into a silence together, sitting quietly and looking up at the stars.

Above, Roxas was standing against the window, looking down at the pair. He frowned. Sora had put up a barrier and let no one through in the past three years. Roxas had been the closest to Sora of anyone for that period of time, and even he hadn't made it through that barrier, and yet he could see that already Riku was breaking down the wall. After everything he'd done to Sora, he was still closer to the brunette than anyone else. Roxas's expression hardened. He knew exactly what was going to happen next: Sora would let his guard down and start to trust again, and Riku would disappear and break Sora for a second time.

Roxas stepped away from the window and crossed his arms, glaring at his reflection in the mirror. He wasn't about to let Riku hurt Sora again…


	15. Chapter 13

_And...the TWIST! Number one, anyways. Here we go!!! And on lucky chapter number 13, too :)  
_

**Chapter 13**

Usually dungeons were dark and dreary. This dungeon, however, had whitewashed walls and bright, harsh lights. It was easily recognizable, but that certainly didn't comfort Axel any. He'd rebelled against this place, just as Roxas had, so the fact that he was in a dungeon, in the Castle That Never Was, didn't seem like a good thing.

"Morning, sleepy head," a voice sang out from behind him. Axel sat up and twisted around. He wasn't exactly surprised to see that Demyx was in here with him; he figured that the blond would probably follow him in desertion relatively quickly, and would probably get himself caught. What did surprise him was the fact that the both of them were alive at all. He distinctly remembered dieing a while back, when he was fighting along side Sora and his weird friends. And he seemed to recall hearing that Demyx had met a similar fate, though on the other side of Sora's blade.

"How can you tell that it's morning?" Axel asked.

"Dunno. But everyone is waking up, so I figured that it must be morning because that's when people wake up."

"Everyone?" Axel asked, turning himself the rest of the way around so that he was sitting cross-legged with his back against the wall, facing Demyx.

"Well, not everyone," Demyx admitted, "but Zexion's here, too," he explained, pointing. Zexion was sitting in the corner, staring at the wall opposite. He turned his head slightly, nodded to Axel in recognition, and returned to his staring.

"Sooo… why are we locked up in here?" Axel asked, leaning against the wall and folding his hands behind his head.

"Dunno yet. I thought we were all dead, so I don't know who is living here, if all us Organization guys are either dead or locked up in our own dungeon."

"That would be me," a cold female voice announced.

Demyx looked through the bars at the approaching figure. She was tall and dressed in a black dress. She was carrying a long staff and had an ugly smirk on her face.

"Who're you?" Demyx asked. Even he wasn't afraid of her.

"You may call me Maleficent," she answered.

"Ohhhh, you're that bitch with the Heartless!" Axel announced.

Maleficent glowered at him. "Have a little respect. I hold your hearts in my hands."

"Nice try, lady. We don't have hearts," Demyx replied, sounding almost apologetic.

"But I can give you hearts if you listen to me," she offered temptingly.

"…You can?" Demyx asked, sounding like a child.

"She's lying," Zexion muttered.

Axel laughed. "He speaks!" He paused, and then shook his head apologetically at Demyx. "And he's right."

"You have no idea the kind of power I wield!" Maleficent shrieked.

Axel looked unimpressed. "The kind of power that lets you get your ass kicked by a retardedly happy little kid?"

"Fine! If you don't wish to have your hearts, I will leave you locked down here to rot!"

"Woah, woah, you'll let us out?" Axel asked, interested.

"If you do as I say," Maleficent replied.

"Well, what do you want us to do?" Demyx asked meekly.

"Kill the brats with the Keyblades."

Demyx whipped his head around to stare at Axel, but the redhead just shrugged.

"Okay."

Maleficent looked surprised at how easy it was to convince him. "Well, I'll send someone to check on your progress in a few days then. The dark passageways are open for your use. When you succeed, return to me here, and you shall have your reward." She passed her hand over the lock, and with a click, the dungeon door swung open. With that, she turned on her heel and disappeared down a hallway.

"She's stupid," Axel said after a long silence.

Demyx looked uncomfortable. "You know… this means that you have to kill Roxas…"

Axel laughed. "What, you think I actually plan on doing as she told me to?"

"But don't you want a heart?"

"I told you, she can't give us a heart. She was lying. We'd have better luck going to Sora and asking him from one."

"…Sora can give us hearts?"

"I dunno. But if anyone can, he'd be the one to ask. Even if he can't do it himself, he'd know who could," Axel replied.

Zexion looked up again. "You place a lot of trust in the kid."

Demyx nodded. "He's really strong," he said, in agreement with Axel.

"But we don't need strength. We need wisdom," Zexion answered swiftly.

"Well he's friends with that mouse king," Demyx offered.

Axel sighed. "Besides, it doesn't matter so much whether or not he can do it, it's that _she_ can't."

"Yep. If she can't actually give us hearts, then I don't want to risk crossing that kid if I don't have to," Demyx admitted, scratching the back of his head.

Axel chuckled. "You're afraid of Sora?"

"He killed me! Of _course _I'm afraid of him!"

"But you're not dead…" Axel observed, raising one eyebrow.

"Some fat guy named Pete was here before you woke up, and he said that we were brought back to life because Maleficent thinks that we'd be the ones most likely to win against Sora out of everyone in the Organization."

Even Zexion was surprised by that comment. "Why would she pick us?"

Axel nodded. "We have a bookworm, a sensitive musician type, and a half-crazy pyro," he commented, disbelievingly.

"The half-crazy pyro is the only one who sounds even remotely intimidating," Zexion agreed.

"Well don't complain! We're alive, and we're out of here! Who cares why she chose us?" Demyx nearly shouted. He jumped to his feet and walked out of the cell, stretching. "Where to first?" he asked Axel as the redhead stepped out of the cell after him.

"Find our way out of here," Axel answered, experimentally extending his hand. No portal opened.

Zexion followed them out a moment later. "It seems that she's created some sort of neutral zone, and it's keeping us from opening portals," he noted.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Axel replied sarcastically.

Zexion glowered at him, and the rag-tag group started wandering through the halls the castle, getting themselves completely lost.

"You know, we lived here for long enough that you'd think we could find our way around," Axel commented, sounding bored, grinning when Demyx started to laugh extremely loudly. Zexion glared at the blond.

"Do you have to be so loud?" he grumbled.

Demyx grinned. "Yes."

"Here we go!" Axel said, relieved as he walked out into the entrance-way of the castle. They walked into the city.

"As rainy and gross as this place is, it kind of grew on me…" Demyx said, looking around and then lifting his face to the sky as a light rain began to fall.

Axel scowled. "Dammit. I hate rain," he complained, crossing his arms.

Demyx, whistling, lifted his hand over Axel's head for a moment, drawing a circle in the air over the crown of his head. "M'kay! All done!"

"Done what?" Axel asked cluelessly.

"The rain won't fall on you anymore," Demyx answered smugly.

Axel looked up and found an impressed expression forming on his face. The rain seemed to be repelled away from him, falling at odd angles around him as opposed to on him. He smiled. "Thanks Dem!"

"Where do we go first, to find the Keyblade Masters?" Zexion asked.

"Relax, Zexy," Demyx ordered, giggling.

"We go to the Destiny Islands first. If they're not there, then at least that little red-head girl will know where they are," Axel decided.

Demyx smirked. "Lead the way, oh fearless leader!"

Axel bowed to him, chuckling, and extended his hand. It seemed that outside the castle, they were able to open the portals. Stepping through, the found themselves on a sun-drenched beach, with two girls sitting on the sand not far from them.

"Hello Kairi," Axel greeted smugly. The redheaded girl twisted around, her expression souring when she saw him.

"Oh, it's you."

"My name's Axel, got it memorized?"

"Whatever."

The brunette with a flip-y hairdo shuffled closer to Kairi, looking afraid. "Who are they?" she whispered.

Kairi ignored Selphie for the moment and narrowed her eyes at the three Nobodies. "You're looking for Sora, aren't you?" she demanded.

"Is he not here?" Axel asked, sounding surprised.

"He hasn't been here for years," she answered sharply. "Where've you been, living under a rock?" she asked scathingly.

Axel scowled. He didn't know what he'd done to get her so angry with him…well, except maybe play her into Saix's hands… right, so she had every right to be angry with him

"Actually, we've been dead," Demyx answered brightly.

Zexion frowned. "Years?" he asked. "How many years?"

"It's been three and a half years now since Xemnas was killed," Kairi replied suspiciously. She paused for a moment, and then asked, "Xemnas isn't back, too, is he?"

"Oh no, it's just us," Demyx assured her, still acting far too happy.

"Damn, three and a half years? It's been a while then…" Axel said, whistling in surprise. "Look, if Sora's not here, then where is he?"

"I don't know," Kairi answered, her tone turning angry and sharp again. "He went off with Roxas three years ago, after Riku left."

Axel's mouth twisted into a nervous grin at the mention of Roxas.

Demyx chuckled at Axel's expression. "Thanks for the help, ladies, but I think we should be off now. We need to find Sora and Roxas before Maleficent sends her minions after us," he said, nodding to Kairi and Selphie.

When the Nobodies had gone, Kairi turned to Selphie. "If Sora ever comes back, don't tell him about Axel looking for him."

"Why not?" Selphie asked, surprised.

Kairi's expression turned from one of mistrust and anger to one of pain. "If Sora ever comes back and he finds out that Axel was looking for him, he'll leave again. I don't think I could take it if that happened…"

…………………………….

Axel, Demyx and Zexion arrived in Disney Castle at dusk.

"I don't really feel like we should be here," Demyx announced as they wandered through the garden.

Axel shrugged and patted the top of Demyx's head. "It's just that damned Cornerstone. Don't let it get to you," he said, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his dark jacket. "I think we should maybe clothe ourselves less…conspicuously."

"Seems like a good idea," Zexion agreed.

"SHOPPING!" Demyx shrieked. Zexion shook his head. Axel grinned.

"Dem, you have to be the most flamboyant person I have ever met."

"Maybe so, but _you're_ the gay one."

"So? You say that like it's a bad thing. Roxas has an ass finer than any woman."

"Too bad you could never get him in bed."

"Meh. The thrill of the chase just makes him all the more appealing."

Zexion tugged his bangs further down over his eyes. "Seriously, I don't want to hear you talking about key-boy's _ass_."

Demyx laughed. "Look, he's getting all hot and bothered just thinking about it!" he announced, poking Zexion in the shoulder.

Zexion raised his head, his eyes wide with horror. "I am _no such thing_!"

Of course, all that caused was further laughter from Axel and Demyx.

Axel crossed his arms. "Look, you two can fantasize all you want, but Roxas is _mine_."

"I think Roxas might argue with you on that one. Maybe he might have the hots for Sora. I mean, why not? They'd have lots in common, and they look alike, so in theory, Sora's ass should be just as nice as Roxas's."

"Demyx! That's like beyond incest, you sick freak!"

"…Oh. Right, I guess. Then maybe he's into that kid with the white hair. The one who he fought a couple times? Remember?"

"Why is it so inconceivable for him to be interested in _me_?" Axel demanded, put out.

"Because you've tried to get him endless times and never succeeded," Zexion said simply, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

"You've never even managed to _kiss_ him!" Demyx chuckled.

"That's not true!" Axel announced triumphantly. "I have so kissed him!"

"Reeeeaaaally?!" Demyx said sweetly, trotting over to Axel and practically hanging himself off the redhead. "Tell me about it," he demanded, grinning.

"Give me one good reason why I should," Axel answered, raising one eyebrow and smirking.

"Because you loooooooove meeeeeeee…."

"Would you two shut up? I thought we were here to talk to the King about finding Sora, not to discuss Axel's sex-capades," Zexion said coldly.

"Don't be so boring, Zexy!" Demyx cooed, turning his attention from Axel to Zexion, and hanging himself from the poor dark-haired emo-boy who had no idea how to react.

Axel laughed. "Leave Zexion alone, Dem. Let's go find that King."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Hehehehe, this chapter was so much fun to write :) Hope it was as much fun to read! Review pleeeeeaaaaaaase!


	16. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Axel, Demyx and Zexion found the King, and discovered that Sora and Roxas hadn't been seen at the Castle in ages, and that no one seemed to know where they were. The three Nobodies went from planet to planet, searching every place they could think of. They tried the Land of Dragons first, but found that when they tried to speak with the Emperor about Sora, the guards attacked them viciously, because of their long black coats. Apparently, Xigbar had been there and had tried to attack the Emperor during Xemnas's fight for Kingdom Hearts. So the next place they found themselves was Radiant Garden, looking for some new clothing.

They separated, each going their separate ways to find some clothes they might like. Axel was the first to return to their chosen meeting place. He was dressed in a bright red t-shirt with an image of a lion with a flaming mane in orange on the front of it. He also had a pair of black pants with a series of studded belts, and a couple of thick chains hanging from his neck and wrists. He knew it had taken him a surprisingly short time to finish his clothes shopping, so, whistling an odd tune in the completely wrong key, he wandered off towards Merlin's house, intent on finding those friends of Sora's that lived around here…

He wandered through the streets, among the houses. They were in much better shape than they had been last time he'd been in Radiant Garden. They were almost entirely rebuilt; it was difficult to even to see the evidence of the destruction wrought upon the city nearly five years ago now.

"HEY YOU!" a female voice shrieked from above. Axel looked up to see a blur of pale skin and black cloth come flying at him. He side stepped the attack and the little ninja girl landed gracefully on the ground next to him.

"I have a name," Axel answered lazily, crossing his arms.

"No kidding," Yuffie said sarcastically.

Axel smirked. "I'm Axel, got it memorized?"

"I know who you are," Yuffie replied tersely. "I'm telling you to go away."

"Oh? Can I ask why you're so quick to kick me out?"

"Because you and your friends in the Organization are our _enemies_. The way Sora tells it, you're all supposed to be dead. He won't be pleased to find you alive."

"Is he here?" Axel asked, trying – and failing – to keep the note of hope out of his voice.

"Nope. Hasn't been for a while now. Cid says that the paths between the planets are closed. He won't be back," she explained, still eyeing him with suspicion.

"Damnit. You know what planet he's on then?"

"Nope."

"Would you tell me if you did know?"

"Nope."

"Great," Axel muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Look, if you'd give me some clue where to find him, I'll be able to leave your planet that much sooner."

Yuffie seemed to consider this. "Okay, he was getting restless around here, so him and Roxas went off looking for some adventure or something. Didn't tell me where exactly he was planning on going though. _Now_ will you leave?"

Axel smirked and saluted her. "I'm out of here." He turned on his heel, and walked back towards the marketplace, still whistling that off-key tune.

When he reached the market square again, he discovered a small crowd growing around Demyx and Zexion. Raising an eyebrow and wondering what was going on, he wandered towards them to see what was up. There was music floating over the murmuring crowds towards him.

_I'll be back tomorrow  
I'll be back at a quarter to 11  
I'm half drunk, I can't see straight  
A hero zero with a capital Z (that's me)  
Singing songs from the balcony as the city crumbles  
Under the powers of an evil doctor rocket science monster  
with capabilities to destroy the entire universe_

_I'll be back tomorrow  
I'll be back in the ballroom swingin'  
I'll be back with my Superman action  
And I'm off to save the world_

_I'll be back tomorrow  
I'll be back in the ballroom swingin'  
I'll be back with a capital H  
It stands for hero, and the hero is me_

Getting closer, Axel could see the two other Nobodies, and realized what was going on – Demyx was playing his sitar and singing, and Zexion had a pair of drumsticks in his hand, and he was beating on the stones, a wooden crate and his shoes to create the drumline. Demyx was dressed in a blue vintage college swim-team shirt and blue jeans, and Zexion had on a black button-up shirt with skull and crossbones embroidered on the front with a pair of dark jeans. The two finished the song, to the applause of the crowd, and Axel pushed through the group towards them.

"I think we should leave," he said casually.

"Why?" Demyx asked, bewildered.

"Because a ninja girl just jumped me and told me to get the hell out of her city."

"Oh. Yuffie angry?" Demyx asked.

Zexion looked a little lost. He'd never met Yuffie.

"She's _very_ angry," Axel answered, shaking his head. "She says Sora and Roxas went looking for adventure."

"Great, that's not vague at all…" Zexion grumbled, getting to his feet.

"Well, it's better than nothing," Demyx said hopefully.

Axel chuckled. "It _is_ nothing, Dem."

They left Radiant Garden and sailed the stars, having no idea where to go next, until Demyx let out a yelp and jumped Zexion…again. The poor emo Nobody still had no idea how to react to Demyx's arms around his neck, practically choking the life out of him. Axel looked amused.

"Umm, Dem, any particular reason for this sudden affectionate outburst?"

"I have an idea!!" he announced, detaching himself from Zexion, who looked part embarrassed, part bewildered and completely horrified.

Demyx grinned like an idiot, clearly impressed with himself.

Axel cleared his throat impatiently. "Do you plan on telling us this idea?"

"Sure! Last time I was in Olympus, Sora seemed pretty buddy-buddy with the big hulky guy there… the one that Hades wanted to kill, can't remember his name."

"…Hercules?"

"That's it! Anyways, I was thinking: maybe Sora's there? If he was such good friends with Hercules back then, he probably wanted to stick around with people he got along with, right?" Demyx said, his grin widening.

Zexion rolled his eyes. "You know, Sora probably made friends with _everyone_ he met. He still could be _anywhere_ by that logic."

Demyx scowled at him. "You're mean. I thought it was a good idea, until _you_ went and burst my bubble."

Axel chuckled. "Someone had to do it, Dem. Don't blame poor Zexion. But, really, that _is_ a pretty good idea… though the way I see it, if he wants to be spending time with friends, he'd be in Twilight Town."

Demyx lightened up a little then. "Okay! I still say Olympus would be a good idea, but whatever," he answered, shrugging.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

"HI!" Demyx greeted, trotting up to the brunette girl wandering alone in front of the train station. She smiled at him.

"Hi," she answered, wondering what he was up to.

"I'm Demyx," the blonde announced. "My friends are Axel and Zexion."

Her expression faltered at the mention of Axel's name, but maintained her smiles until another voice rang out from inside the train station.

"OLETTE!"

"Hi, Hayner. Hi, Pence," she greeted.

Hayner scowled at the Nobodies. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Sora," Axel answered with a shrug.

"He's not here," Hayner told them, glaring at each.

"Oh… where is he?" Demyx asked.

"He left," Olette answered, a new hint of disappointment and fear entering her voice.

Pence sighed. "Hayner, stop being so suspicious. You're scaring Olette."

"She should be afraid!" Hayner shot back. "There are Heartless!"

"We haven't seen a Heartless since that first attack. There's no reason to be so paranoid. Maybe it was a freak accident or whatever," Pence answered rationally.

"Do you know where Sora went?" Zexion asked, frustrated by the slow progress of the conversation.

"He went… to the Islands, he said. But that was days ago. He's probably long gone from there by now. He said that they were going to all of the planets, because they were the only ones who could protect everyone," Olette explained.

"Don't tell them anymore," Hayner ordered.

Pence rolled his eyes. "Why not? I mean, isn't this one friends with Roxas? They're not that intimidating or anything," he said, jabbing his thumb in Axel's direction.

"Well, we'd love to stay, but we've got to go," Zexion said suddenly.

Demyx raised his eyebrows. "You in a hurry all of a sudden?"

"We have to get going to find Sora, before he goes even further away and we get stuck chasing him for even longer," Zexion explained.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Sora, Roxas and Riku took all morning fixing the gummiship. Roxas and Riku exchanged next to no words.

"We'll have to go back to the Castle to get full repairs," Sora announced, jumping down from his place on top of the tail, where he had been sitting, working on the broken rudder. The sun was beating down, brutally hot, and he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, sighing and collapsing to the ground in the shade cast by the ship.

Riku sat down next to him, equally tired. He was wearing the sleeveless shirt that Sora had met him in previously, but even after working hours in the hot sun, his skin was still perfectly white. "Think we'll be able to make it that far, or will we have to stop part way there and patch her up again?" he asked, tugging his long hair out of his face and tying it back at the base of his neck.

"We'll probably be able to make it… but it's still too risky to try to make the whole trip on one go. We shouldn't loose much time if we stop on the way to fix it up quick," Sora answered, getting to his feet. He peered over the top of the ship at his blonde other, still working industriously away. "How's it coming, Rox?"

"Almost done," Roxas answered quickly, dropping his hammer and rummaging around from some other tool.

Sora nodded and slumped back down to the ground, taking a deep breath. "I could use a drink about now."

Riku sighed, smirking. "I should have guessed. You're a smoker _and_ an alcoholic."

Sora laughed, punching Riku in the arm. "I meant like water or something, stupid. I'm thirsty. Working outside tends to do that to a guy."

Riku just grinned, crossing his arms. "Of course that's what you mean," he answered sarcastically.

Sora shook his head, rolling his eyes. "I'm going in to ask Mark about some water bottles or something. Do you want one or not?"

"I'll do you one better and come in with you," Riku replied, stretching and standing.

"Grab me one, would you Sora?" Roxas called, still not looking up from his work.

"You got it," Sora called back, walking towards the little inn.

By the time Sora and Riku came back outside again, Roxas was finished, and had stolen their spot in the shade. He has his head bowed, and was slumped against the side of the ship, giving him the appearance of being asleep. Sora knew better, though. He could tell by the way Roxas was breathing that the blonde wasn't actually asleep. He tossed one of the water bottles to Roxas, who would have gotten hit in the head if he had actually been sleeping. Instead, Roxas looked up at the last second, his hand shooting up in front of his face to catch the bottle perfectly.

"Thanks."

"Welcome. Now get in, and we'll get going. I think I might die if I stay here much longer," Sora said, gagging at his surroundings.

"Where are we going to stop?" Riku asked, climbing into the cockpit.

"Dunno. Maybe we'll stop at the Olympus. That's about halfway."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

The flight didn't go quite as well as planned. A group of Heartless ships attacked almost the instant they were off the planet, forcing Sora to use immediate evasive maneuvers. He well knew that the sharp turns and barrel rolls he was using was going to have a harsh effect on the patched tail, and he wasn't even so sure that they would be able to make it to the Land of Dragons if Riku and Roxas, who were manning the guns, couldn't take out the Heartless soon. As many of the Heartless ships as they were dropping, twice the number were arriving. All it took was for one missile to collide with an asteroid far too close to the ship, rocking the gummiship violently in the resulting shockwave. The broken tail loosened, and the controls started responding to Sora only about half the time. He wasn't even sure he could land the ship safely.

"We're getting the hell out of here, NOW!" Sora shouted gruffly, gunning the engine and sending the gummiship shooting through space. They _had_ to escape the Heartless if they were to have any chance at landing somewhere safely. Slow and cautious were not options when there were Heartless attacking. To his horror, though, another shot from a Heartless hit home, knocking the controls out further. The gummiship veered sharply to the right, spiraling downward, before coming to a sharp stop and barrel rolling to the left. It hit the gravitational field of the closest planet then, and the ship began to nose dive. Sora didn't have any control over the ship's direction anymore, but he still had control over the engines, so he reversed the power and slowed the fall to a safe speed. They would survive the crash, but it wasn't going to be comfortable.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Mmmmm, that was shorter than I had intended, but I promise the next one will be long, and will be extra juicy :)


	17. Chapter 15

Wow, so it's been WAY too long since I've updated... hopefully you all haven't abandoned me!! A good chapter though! I promise!! Sora gets to get angry, and Riku and Roxas get into a fight :)

**Chapter 15**

Sora was standing in the middle of a courtyard, staring at the smoking remains of his gummiship, with his arms crossed and a very dangerous look on his face.

Riku and Roxas were standing behind the brunette, both watching him carefully. Both could tell that Sora was about to explode. And, right on schedule, he did.

"GOD FUCKING DAMNIT! SHIT! FUCKING HELL! DAMNIT, DAMNIT, DAMNIT! SON OF A BITCH!! SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!!" he cried, kicking at a smoldering chunk of metal. Bits and pieces of their ship were scattered everywhere, having fallen apart completely. The passengers had been lucky that they weren't injured worse than they were. Sora was bruised in a couple of places, Riku had a cut shoulder and bruised ribs, and Roxas had a nasty bump on his head.

One cue, Roxas jumped into action, trying to calm his fuming Other. "Sora, it's okay, we'll rebuild it," he said soothingly.

Sora growled at him. "What the hell do you mean, rebuild it?! THERE'S NOTHING LEFT OF IT!!" he shouted, throwing his hands up above his head.

Riku sighed, crossing his arms. "Just let him yell. He'll get over it in a couple minutes."

Roxas whipped around to glare at him. "What the hell do you know?"

"I've been best friends with him since I was three. I think I know a thing or two about Sora," Riku retorted

"Hate to break it to you, but he's become a completely different person over the course of the past three years. Or did you forget that you _abandoned_ him? That it's _your_ fault he's had to rebuild himself into someone completely different from who he was before? That you were the one who broke him in the FIRST PLACE?!" Roxas demanded, taking a step closer with every accusation.

Growling, Riku reached out blindingly fast and grabbed a handful of Roxas' shirt, dragging the blonde closer and nearly lifting him completely off the ground. "I did what I had to. I get that you don't understand why I did what I did, but I don't have to justify anything to _you_, Nobody," he hissed, shoving Roxas away and sending the blonde stumbling.

"Both of you shut the hell up," Sora ordered, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Someone's coming," he added, looking over Riku's shoulder towards the large front doors of the castle, which were creaking open.

Riku turned on time to see a tall man with long blond hair walking towards them. He was dressed in rich blue clothes and had a look of concern on his face.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, looking from Riku to Sora to Roxas.

"We're fine," Riku answered. "Our ship's not, though."

Sora was watching him with the utmost suspicion. "Who're you?"

The man blinked at Sora, surprised. "I'm the master of this castle."

Sora raised an eyebrow, smirking. "That's rich. I've been here before, you know. The master of this place is like ten feet tall and covered in brown fur."

Just then, a female voice rang out from within the castle. "Francois? What's going on?" A pretty woman with long dark hair peered out at them from within the shadows of the doors. She squinted at them, her face turning to an expression of disbelief, before she came out into the sunlight, smiling and slightly awed. "…Sora?"

"Hi, Belle. Long time, no see, I guess," Sora greeted, looking a little more relaxed upon seeing a familiar face.

"You're so _tall_!" she announced, getting closer. She was at least a full head shorter than Sora was now.

"So I've been told."

"Sora?" Francois asked, clearly surprised.

Sora stared at him, confused. "Umm, do I know you?"

Francois grinned. "Absolutely. You just know me better as ten feet tall and covered with brown fur."

That's when recognition flashed across Sora's face. "But… what happened? I mean, you're the Beast?!"

"Didn't Mrs. Potts tell you the story? About the curse?"

"Well, yah… So you broke it, I guess. Well, umm, I don't really know what I should say so… congrats?" Sora said awkwardly. "So, umm, you're name's Francois then?"

"I'm not really sure what my name is. But I'm called Francois now because it means free," he explained.

Sora shrugged. "That's appropriate, I guess."

Francois grinned. "I thought so." He turned his attention to Riku and Roxas. "So, were Donald and Goofy cursed too?" he asked.

Sora stared at him, bewildered. "What?"

Francois motioned to Sora's two companions. "They were both animals last time I saw them…"

Sora burst out laughing then. "Oh, this is Riku and Roxas. Old friends. Donald and Goofy are with the King. Not the same people."

Riku frowned. "He mistook us for Donald and Goofy? I think I should be offended," he muttered.

Sora couldn't help but snicker. "Is there any way we can contact Disney from here?" he asked. "We need their help to get this thing fixed."

"I'm sure there's something we a can do to help, but you'll want to talk to Chip about that. He's much better with the technological stuff than I am," Francois told them. "But in the meantime, you're welcome to stay here!"

"Thanks," Sora answered.

"SORA! Oh my dear, boy, it's been far too long!!" a voice called out, followed by the sight of Mrs. Potts running out of the castle.

Sora really wasn't particularly surprised by how she looked as a human. She still looked more or less like a teapot, with a round stomach covered in a white apron and a small, puffy hat that looked suspiciously like a lid. She ran towards them, coming to a stop just in front of Sora, all smiles and gasps.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome!!" she greeted. And just behind him, a sandy haired boy only just shorter than Sora trotted up to them.

"Hi, Sora!" he said, grinning and revealing a missing tooth.

Sora blinked at him. "Chip? Shit, I'm not the only one who grew," he noted.

His hosts were all staring at him with wide eyes. He had no idea what was wrong, until Riku elbowed him.

"Don't say that shit," he hissed, though he was smirking as he said it. That's when it dawned on Sora that his language might have actually offended some people, deciding immediately that he didn't care too much. He could be far worse, and they should be glad that they weren't around when he first exploded over the ship.

Francois cleared his throat. "Well, Mrs. Potts can show you to your rooms. We have other guests as well, and I'm sure you'll get along well with them. You'll meet them at dinner, which is being served in about an hour."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

"Why are we here?" Demyx asked, flopping down on Axel's bed. Axel, meanwhile, was admiring the lavish furnishings of his room.

"Because that Islands bitch won't tell us where Sora went and now that we have no leads as to where he is, this is as good a place to check as any," Axel answered before turning around to face the blonde. "Why are you here? You have your own room. Go there."

"But there's no one to bother there…" Demyx whined.

"Then go bother Zexion or something," Axel answered, waving a hand passively at him.

Demyx grinned, bouncing up off the bed and bounding out of the room.

Axel gave his head a quick shake and lay down on the bed, folding his hands behind his head. "I could get used to staying in this place," he decided, closing his eyes and trying to get a little sleep. "Maybe we should just stay here and wait until Sora and friends come to us…" he yawned, closing his eyes. His stomach, however, seemed to have other plans, growling fiercely the moment he managed to get comfortable. Sitting up again with a frown, he glanced at the clock on the wall. Dinner was being served in ten minutes. He decided to get up and make his way down to the dining room. The place was big, and he knew he'd get lost on his way down, so he went to Zexion's room, where Demyx was still probably being annoying, to grab them and head down early. He figured that if they left ten minutes early and took a ten minute detour, they'd get there right on time. Distracted by was he considered to be the brilliancy of his own plan, he pushed open the door of Zexion's room without knocking.

"Heyyyy-oly shit!" he yelped, staring wide eyed at the scene before him.

Demyx was lying flat on his back on the bed, his shirt cast aside and his belt half undone. Zexion was on top of him, his shirt unbuttoned with one of his hands buried in Demyx's hair, and the other on the bed, propping himself up. Demyx's hands were flat on Zexion's chest, and both were staring at Axel in the doorway with wide eyes and bruised lips. Staring at the pair for just a moment longer, Axel collapsed to the floor, laughing until there were tears rolling down his tattooed cheeks.

Demyx and Zexion seemed to be pulled out of their shocked stupor at the sound. Zexion rolled off Demyx, falling off the opposite side of the bed. Demyx rolled in the opposite direction, snatching his shirt up off the floor and scrambling towards Axel. "It's not what it looks like!"

Still laughing helplessly, Axel shook his head, "It's sure as hell exactly what it looks like!" he announced, barely able to keep his laughter under control.

"Damnit Demyx, I _told_ you to lock the door!!" Zexion hissed, reappearing from the other side of the bed with his shirt done up, scowling.

Demyx began to giggle. "I _tried_, you wouldn't let me get anywhere near the door!"

Axel burst out laughing again. "I was coming to get you guys for dinner, but looks like you need a few minutes to get dressed and to sort out your lover's issues and whatever… so I'll meet you in the dining room," he said, chuckling to himself as he got to his feet and wandered out the door.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Riku and Roxas were both sitting on Sora's bed, each on the opposite side, each facing away from the other, with Sora stretched out in between them. The brunette had his hands over his ears, and his face twisted into a pained grimace. The blonde had his hands clenched at his sides and his teeth clenched, and he was staring off into space, most likely imagining himself using telepathy to tear Riku's head off. The platinum haired one was the only thing thinking of anything that pertained at all to the present.

"Dinner's soon, I think we should probably head down," he said, leaning forward and looking out the window.

Roxas stood silently and moved towards the door, a signal that he agreed. He just didn't want to admit that he agreed with Riku.

Sora grunted. "I have a headache. I think I'll pass, maybe take a nap or something."

"Alright," Riku said, standing. "Do you want me to ask Mrs. Potts to put some stuff aside for you in case you want to come down later?" he asked as an afterthought, on his way out of the room.

"Sure," Sora murmured, clearly only half listening. He was pulling his shirt off, and then rubbing his head, groaning again.

Riku sighed and shut the door, following Roxas down the hall.

The blonde instantly spun to face Riku, and narrowed his eyes. "Let's get one thing straight: if I had my way, you'd be dead."

Riku growled, rolling his shoulders. "I'd like to see you try, kiddo," he answered dangerously.

"I've beaten you before. Don't take me lightly," Roxas spat.

"That's debatable. Besides, things have changed since then. You wouldn't have a chance against me now," Riku said, smirking smugly.

Roxas stepped forward so that he was toe to toe with Riku, glaring at him. "Don't be so sure," he hissed, balling his fists. "I've been fighting these past three years to watch Sora's back. Faithfully I've stuck with him, while you went out jumping from world to world, no word and certainly no apology for what you put us through." He shoved Riku against a wall. "I'm _not_ letting you tear him apart again. I'm _not _going to get stuck putting him back together. If you so much as think about leaving again, I'll kill you. I swear I will."

Riku growled and pushed Roxas off of him. "You think you've got it all figured out, don't you? You think that I don't deserve Sora, and you think that I'm a selfish bastard for leaving without a thought to what he wanted. You don't have a clue. Not a _fucking _ clue. I left because I was tainted, and I was ruining Sora's chances at a normal life."

Roxas scowled. "That's right, blame it on your darkness. Poor Riku, taken helplessly by the shadows, lost his innocence and ran away for the best interests of his friends," he mocked, his voice nearly a snarl. "You're weak. You can't even bring yourself to _apologize_ to your best friend for just about ruining his life."

"I don't have anything to apologize for. It was a mistake, I'll admit, but I was trying to do the best thing for everyone and couldn't care less whether or not you think that's good enough."

"Doing what's best?" Roxas repeated scathingly. "You were doing what was easiest: running away. This isn't the first time you've run from him. You always run because you can't deal with your own problems."

"So, what all else do you know about me, shrink?" Riku asked sarcastically.

"That you're weak for blaming all your problems on the darkness, that you can't take responsibility for your own actions," Roxas spat.

Riku growled, grabbing a handful of Roxas's shirt and shoving him up against a wall, lifting the blond clean off the ground. "How _dare_ yo-" he began, but was cut off by Roxas's fist smashing into his jaw. He stumbled back, letting go. He cradled his jaw in one hand, and balled his fist with the other. He took a few deep breaths, closing his eyes, trying to keep from hitting Roxas back.

Roxas stood very still, his body tense and ready to react to Riku's retaliation, which never came.

"The darkness is like heroine… though I'm sure you wouldn't have any idea what's that's like, being as good as you are," Riku said scornfully. He took another deep breath, closing his fists at his sides again, lifting his face. The shadows in the corners of the hall began to creep outward, expanding over the walls and through the air, and suddenly, it seemed like the light in the hall wasn't enough to keep the shadows at bay. Riku inhaled deeply, opening his eyes. His pupils had grown to the point where they reduced his irises to nothing. A cruel smirk passed over his face, and he looked startlingly like a vampire: pale skin, dark eyes, with shadows gathering all about him. "The darkness…" he whispered, his voice sounding startlingly loving as the word passed through his lips. "When it enters you, it's becomes as much a part of you as the blood in your veins. To inhale a shadow is to inhale power in its purest form, and it's more addictive than anything else imaginable, and really, there's no reason to resist its siren call…" he said, his terrifying grin growing. He shut his eyes again, and he inhaled more of the shadow shrouding him.

Roxas could see very little now; the darkness was expanding through the hall at an alarming rate. Lunging forward, his fist connected with Riku's jaw again. Riku collapsed, the shadows retreating back into their corners.

"It's as tempting now as it was the first time I encountered it on the Islands," Riku whispered, holding his head in his hands. "And no matter what I do, it will remain a part of me forever. Accept the darkness once, and you'll never be clean again."

"And that's why you don't deserve Sora," Roxas answered, looking disgusted. "When it comes down to it, you'll pick the darkness over him, just like you did the first time. And like I said, if you break him again, I'll kill you."

Riku didn't answer, just got to his feet silently and followed the blonde down the hallway towards great sweeping staircase.

Riku and Roxas went down to the kitchen in complete silence, and walked back up to the rooms in complete silence, each coming to the silent conclusion that it would be best to pretend like Riku's lapse with the darkness had never happened. Riku had a covered plate in each hand, and Roxas was carrying one of his own.

Riku paused at the closed door of Sora's room, making Roxas stop and twisted around, sighing impatiently. Riku held out one of the plates. "Hold this for a second," he ordered, trying to sound demanding. His voice still shook from earlier, though, and it sounded like more of a helpless request.

Taking the plate, Roxas watched him closely, still suspicious. "What are you doing?"

"Going to give Sora his dinner," Riku answered, pushing the door open. He found, to his surprise, the chain locking the door closed, only allowing it to open about an inch. "Sora?" he called. Inside, there was a flurry of movement.

"Riku!" Sora's surprised gasp could be heard through the door. "What are you doing? Why aren't you at dinner?"

"We had Mrs. Potts make a plate for each of us and brought them back up so we could eat together," Riku answered, leaning forward and peering into the room. The lights were out, and the sun had just set, so he could see Sora's shadow against the pink sky. He could also see the glinting of red and silver from Sora's freshly bloodied switchblade. And, taking a step back, he rammed his shoulder into the door, trying to force it open. "Fucking hell! What are you _doing_?!" he demanded, stuffing the other plate in his hands into Roxas's hands. "Open the goddamn door, Sora!" he demanded, his voice cracking with fury.

"No way!"

"Open this door or I swear, I'll tear that chain of yours clean off your neck this time around!"

Sora glared at Riku from inside the room. "Did it occur to you at all that threatening me with physical violence might not work, given what it is that I'm doing?"

"What's going on?" Roxas demanded, trying to see over Riku's shoulder and into Sora's room.

Sora's eyes went wide. "Oh shit! Roxas is out there?! Umm… tell him I'm smoking, and that's what you're so mad about!!" he pleaded to Riku.

Roxas sighed. "I heard that moron. Now that I know you're not smoking, what is it that you're _actually_ doing?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he tried to peer through the darkness and see his Other. All he could see was Sora's shadow moving away from the window and letting the darkness shroud around him, hiding him from Riku and Roxas's view.

"Tell him and I kill you, Riku," Sora hissed from within the shadows.

"If you keep making that threat, it's going to stop having an effect on me," Riku answered through gritted teeth. "Open the door, damnit!"

"No!"

Riku sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'll tell Roxas if you don't open the door _now_."

"You'll tell me anyway!" Roxas ordered, putting down the plates in his hands and grabbing a handful of Riku's shirt.

Riku twisted around to face the blond. "I'll make him tell you. It's not my secret to tell."

Roxas grunted in reply and shoved Riku into the door before turning on his heel and stomping down the hall, muttering under his breath the whole way.

"…Is he still there?" Sora asked, approaching the door and peeking out into the hall, his eyes flickering about for any sight of Roxas.

"No, now let me in," Riku ordered, his eyes still dark with anger.

Sora mulled over it for a moment before turning away from the door. "No."

Riku growled, ramming his shoulder into the door again. There was a loud cracking sound, and the chain gave another inch. He could see Sora's eyes going wide in the darkness, and rammed into the door again. With another crack, the chain burst from the wood, the door flying open and slamming into the wall.

Sora was watching Riku cautiously, backing slowly away from him. He'd already cleaned himself up and had been in the middle of wrapping his arm when Riku had tried to open the door; only his elbow was wrapped, his forearm was still exposed and the new cuts were oozing blood.

Riku's expression turned suddenly to defeat. "Why did you do this again?"

Sora scowled. "What, did you think that because it was you who cleaned up the blood last time instead of me doing it myself that I'd suddenly stop cutting myself? I've been at this for just over two years – I'm not going to just drop the habit because you know about it now."

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Axel wandered the halls, sighing as his stomach rumbled again. He'd left his room ten minutes early, but that was almost half an hour ago. He had started trying to find his way back to the room and would attempt to retrace his steps back to the front of the castle. He figured it would be easier to find the kitchen that way. Of course, now it was a matter of finding his way back to his room. Until he stumbled upon an angry, grumbling blonde boy with the nicest ass he'd ever seen in his life…


	18. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 _  
_

_Axel said he would miss me, when I left the Organization. He thought I didn't hear him, but I did. And even if I didn't, I knew. _

_Riku told me that the darkness is like heroine. He thinks I don't understand. But I do. More even than he does. Because Axel was like my heroine. Not just heroine, either. Like heroine, crack, crystal meth and every other addictive substance all rolled into one. _

_I know Axel missed me when I left. I wasn't even gone for that long. I came back after I fought Riku in front of the Tower. When I beat him. Axel, Demyx and Zexion nearly flipped a shit when they saw me. Xemnas was on a witch-hunt for me, they said, and here I was, waltzing into the den of the lion, they said. I didn't care. I wanted my Other because I wanted to feel whole, but while I was gone I realized that the only time I'd ever felt whole was when I was with Axel. Even if Xemnas did kill me, it would be worth trading in a long life of emptiness for a few minutes of bliss. Axel didn't seem to agree though. He was angry with me. _

_I can remember sitting in his room, letting him yell at me. He was angry with me. I loved it. He was feeling real emotion because of __**me**__. He was angry because I was practically committing suicide by being there. Like I said, I didn't care. I didn't argue. I just sat very still, feeling his anger wash over me, and feeling my own emotional reactions to the things he said. I was completely content, until he told me that he didn't want me there._

_I know, he probably meant that he didn't want me risking my life my being there, but I wasn't so inclined to think reasonably like that at the moment. I overreacted. That's what people with addictions do. I started yelling back at him._

"_If I leave now, we'll never see each other again," I told him._

"_If that's what it takes, then go," he had answered. _

"_Fine, go tell your little friends Demyx and Zexion that I'm leaving, and I'll be gone by the time you get back," I spat, seething. He could see that he'd hurt me, but he could also see that I was serious, and he was worried enough about my getting caught that he decided that it was more important for me to be gone than for me to forgive him. So he did. He pulled open his door and stepped out into the hall, and shut the door behind him. He left me alone in his room._

_I cried. I'd never done that before, and I haven't since. Nobodies can't feel, but he made me feel, and hell, did I ever feel his missing presence. After about two seconds of staring at the closed door, tears spilled out of my eyes and I started to sob. I knew he was expecting me to be gone by the time he got back, and I had every intention of being gone, so really I didn't have time to be crying. But I did anyways. I cried my eyes out, or I would have. I was stupid to think that Axel would leave me alone. The sneaky bastard was standing on the other side of the door, ear pressed to the wood, and as soon as I started crying, he burst right back into his room, slamming the door closed as he did so. _

_What happened next has always confounded me. Always. I guess that a kiss isn't a big deal, but when you think about it, I'm only just over four years old. I don't even have Sora's memories to go on. Even if he was always trying to get into my pants, I never really knew what to expect and how to react to him. So it's totally not my fault that I'm still baffled by the fact that he kissed me. It wasn't clean, it wasn't cute, and it wasn't innocent, but it was us. Still, I'm not really sure why it's so baffling to me. I'm sure the only reason he was so pleased to introduce me to alcohol was because I often woke up unable to remember the night before, hung over and half-naked on top of him, usually uncomfortably close to being impaled by one of his ribs. But despite all that, I still found myself surprised and confused by that kiss. _

"_If I could, I'd make it so you'd never have to leave, but what I want and what's right are always different," he said after. Then he smirked. "I'm a pyromaniac, so I've learned pretty damn well how to preserve the things I care about, despite what I might want."_

_So I left. His words made sense to me. I don't think I would have left if I'd known that I was right, that we never would see each other again. Or at least, that I wouldn't know who he was when I did get to see him one more time. But I'm not psychic or clairvoyant or whatever the hell it's called when you can see into the future. If I was, I would have stayed a little longer. Probably would have kissed him again. But that's the way life works, and once again, I get the short end of the stick._

_Riku says he cares about Sora, but Riku will never be to Sora what Axel was to me. He's too selfish that way. And now Sora's keeping a secret from me that he's willing to tell Riku, and I'm about ready to scream. Can't he see that Riku's only going to betray his trust yet _again_, and I'm going to have to live through the pain of it, yet again, and I'm going to be the one who'll pick up the pieces of my broken Other every time? _

_I think maybe it might be a bad idea to dwell on Axel. It's overwhelming me, the feelings that these memories are bringing up. It's been a long time since I've felt emotion this strongly. It's so intense that it almost hurts. _

Roxas sighed, holding his head in his hands. The light was hurting his eyes; the surge of emotion was giving him a headache. It was different from any headache that he'd gotten from Sora's emotion. Keeping his eyes down, he decided that he should head back to his room and try to get some sleep. Sleep should make him feel better. Hopefully Riku and Sora would be finished discussing whatever it was that had gotten Riku so angry. He kept his eyes one the floor and walked the halls, unsure of exactly where he was going. The halls seemed to be empty, so he didn't worry too much about bumping into anyone until he actually did so. He bumped into the figure, and brushed past them without so much as looking up.

He mumbled, "Sorry," as an afterthought, continuing on his way. The headache was lessening, but the overwhelming emotion was only getting stronger. To his surprise, though, whoever the person was, they grabbed him by the wrist.

"Just where do you think _you're _going, sexy?" a smug and amused voice asked.

Roxas whipped around, ignoring the dizziness that ensued. "Aaaaa…Aaaa…Aaaaaaa." He tried to speak, but found the word caught in his throat. Never mind the emotion, it was the shock overwhelming him now.

The figure smirked. "Just spit it out, babe. You sound like you're going to sneeze," he said casually.

"AXEL!" Roxas shouted then, scowling. "What the _fuck_?!"

Axel grinned. "Oh, Roxy's got himself quite a mouth."

Roxas punched him. In the jaw. Hard.

"Got yourself quite an arm, too," Axel said, frowning and rubbing his cheek. His lip was split and bleeding.

"I thought you were dead, you bastard!" Roxas shouted, furious. He looked like he was going to hit Axel again, and Axel shrank away from him.

"I was," he answered helplessly.

Roxas glared at him. "Don't give me that shit. You're not dead, you moron."

"I was, though. I was brought back to life," Axel explained, cringing. He knew it sounded stupid as soon as it was out of his mouth.

"…What?" Roxas asked, blinking stupidly at the redhead.

"Look, I died, just like you thought. Maleficent brought us back."

"Why?"

"Well…" Axel said slowly, stalling. "See…she thinks…that we're going to kill you."

"Oh. Wait, we?"

"Demyx and Zexion and I. Aren't you a little bit upset by the idea that I'm supposed to kill you?" he asked, looking afraid that Roxas was going to hit him again

Roxas thought about it. He didn't care at the moment what Axel was there for. He was trying to decide how he was supposed to feel about Axel being there at all. "Not really, because I'm not dumb enough to think that you'd actually do it," he replied finally.

The comment seemed to cheer Axel considerably. Roxas then realized that he was supposed to be angry with Axel, so he crossed his arms.

"Explain yourself," he ordered. When he took in the look on Axel's face, he added a threat for good measure: "Or I'll punch you again."

"There's not much to explain. I've been dead for three and a half years, or so Kairi tells me. I woke up in the dungeon of the old HQ, with Demyx and Zexion." As he spoke, he straightened himself up and got his first proper look at Roxas, noticing now that Roxas was almost at eye level with him. "Holy shit, you _grew_, squirt!"

Roxas glowered at him. His anger was picking up steam, and suddenly he wasn't so sure that he liked the situation. "I can't believe you. You think you can just show up here and act like nothing ever happened? It's been three years! What makes you think I wanted to see you again?!" he demanded.

Axel's face fell. "You want me to leave…?" he asked quietly.

"I never wanted you so show up in the _first_ place!" Roxas cried, furious. The pain coursing through him was unbearable, and all he knew was that it was Axel's fault that he was feeling the way he was. The same dull ache of loneliness that he'd been dealing with for the past years had exploded, tearing through his mind, body and heart.

The redhead frowned, looking truly hurt. "I'll leave, if that's what you want…" he muttered, turning around, shoulders hunched. He started to walk away, when he felt a pair of hands wrap around his thin wrists.

"No." Roxas gripped Axel's wrist tighter.

Axel watched him warily. "No…what?"

"You can't leave," Roxas answered, his voice firmer.

Axel's expression broke into a grin. He pressed his hand over Roxas's hands still wrapped around his wrist, and pulled the blond into a tight hug. "I knew you'd come around, kiddo," he murmured into Roxas's hair.

Roxas let Axel hold him. He didn't bother fighting. He could feel himself breaking down inside. Axel was tearing apart his cold, collected mask piece by piece, and he felt like he wanted to laugh and cry and scream all at the same time, and he both delighted and despaired in his feelings. It confused him beyond all reason, but he realized that he wouldn't have it any other way. Because he was _feeling_ again, and as irrational as a heart can be, he'd never want anything else in his life if Axel could give him his heart back.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

"I'll never let you out of my sight," Riku vowed.

Sora sighed. "You're acting like my mother."

"If you can't take care of yourself then…"

"I _can_ take care of myself! I'm the Keyblade Master, I've been the target of both the Heartless and the Nobodies for years now and none of them have left a scratch on me."

"No, because you do that to yourself just fine," Riku muttered, his eyes following the motions of Sora's now covered cuts as the brunette rotated his arm, making sure that the bandages weren't too loose or too tight.

Sora smirked coldly. "Somebody's got to do it." He unwrapped his forearm, picking his switchblade up, and pressed the cool metal against the sensitive, unmarked skin above the branded X. He drew in a sharp breath, closing his eyes, as he broke the skin, dragging the knife across his arm and deepening the cut, hissing in pain and ecstasy as he did so.

Riku glared at him. "Stop it!" he snarled.

Sora opened his eyes and held Riku's gaze with his own as he cut a matching wound into his arm about half an inch above the first. He smirked, his teeth clenching in pain, his eyes never leaving Riku's. His eyes were glazed by tears, but he continued pressing the blade deeper into his arm. "Every hero has his scars," he said finally, his voice ragged.

"NO!" Riku shouted, grabbing the blade and wrenching it from Sora's grasp. He ignored the pain that shot through his hand as he gripped the blade-side of the knife, and he flung it into the wall, closing his hand into a tight fist to keep the bleeding under control. With his other hand, he shoved Sora by the shoulder into the wall. "You didn't have to do this to yourself. You were _perfect_." He pulled Sora's arm out and ran his fingers over the badly scarred skin. "Why would you mark yourself like this…? You saved the world, and never lost your laugh or your innocence. You never had a single flaw… why would you abandon that?" he asked, his voice broken.

"Perfection is a flaw. I wasn't perfect. I was naive, happy to a fault and completely oblivious. Far from perfect. And kind of annoying, too," Sora answered. He laughed bitterly. "I used to think you were perfect, too, you know. Obviously, you're not either. And to be honest, being perfect would suck," he said, crossing his arms, and grimacing in spite of himself at the pressure on his wounds. "Besides, you know why I do this. I do it because it's the most intense thing I can feel anymore." He leaned back against the wall, cradling his arm.

Riku shifted to stand beside him, back against the wall, holding his gaze. "There are feelings more intense than pain alone…"

"Like what? Joy?" Sora asked sarcastically.

Riku snorted. "Hardly." He opened his bleeding hand and watched the blood flow for a moment before closing it into a tight fist and letting the pressure send waves of pain and adrenaline through his body. "I know why you like this feeling, Sora. The adrenaline feels like power. Power feels like pleasure. But it's not. It's fake."

Sora had a doubting expression on his face. "Oh, like you know so much about pleasure."

Riku smirked. "I'm a nineteen-year-old man, Sora. I've learned a thing or two in my travels about pleasure."

"No more than I have. I mean, I'm eighteen. The difference can't be huge," Sora answered.

"It is when I've been traveling alone and you've been traveling with Roxas, who's more or less a brother figure to you."

"_Why_ would that make a difference?"

"Because I had the freedom to do what and _whom _ever I chose. I'm not stupid, so I know Roxas would never have let you do that."

Sora tried to hide a laugh but failed. "Riku, you were a _whore_?!"

Riku smacked him upside the head. "No! Just because I _could _do anyone doesn't mean I _did_!"

"Sure as hell sounds like you did!"

"No, no. I'll admit to fooling around with a couple of different people, but I only ever slept with anyone once," Riku said, grinning stupidly.

Sora sat down on the bed, grinning right back at him. "Who was it?"

Riku shrugged, smirking madly. "I don't remember his name."

"You _are_ a whore!!" Sora exclaimed, laughing. He suddenly stopped laughing and his face became very serious, his eyes wide. "Did...you just say_his_? You're GAY?!"

Riku shrugged. "Sure. Guys seem to be more open to my sadistic streak than girls."

Sora nearly choked when he heard that. "That's one filthy kink..." he muttered when he got his voice back.

"Says the one who gets off by cutting himself," Riku snorted in reply.

"I do _not_ get off by cutting myself!! It's completely different!!" Sora answered, looking mildly horrified.

Riku's face twisted into a devastating smile then, and he looked Sora up and down as if seeing him for the first time.

Sora froze, his stomach clenching involuntarily at the way Riku was looking at him. "No _fucking_ way," he hissed, stumbling away from Riku and across the room.

Riku looked bewildered. "What?"

"I'm not some kinky slut for you to toy with," Sora answered acidly.

Riku's eyes narrowed and he struggled to keep his voice calm. "I never said you were."

Sora grunted. "You're not quite as irresistible as you like to think."

"What is wrong with you?!" Riku demanded, getting to his feet and moving towards Sora.

"Get away from me, you fucking freak!" Sora shouted, shoving Riku away from him.

"Sora--" Riku began, but was cut off by Sora's fist crushing his nose. "AH! Fuck, Sora! A simple 'No' would have sufficed!!"

But Sora was already gone.

_x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x_

Demyx skidded to a stop, narrowly escaping a collision with the wall. "Aaaaaaaaaaxxxxxxxeeeeeellllllllll!!!!" he sang out, peering down the hallway.

Zexion came strolling up behind him, looking relaxed and a little smug. "I told you the dinning room was the other way."

"Hush," Demyx answered, pressing his finger to Zexion's pale lips. "I have an impeccable sense of direction."

Zexion raised one eyebrow, but Demyx didn't notice as it was the eyebrow hidden by the mess of bangs. "You got lost in the Olympian Underworld, did you not?"

"I knew exactly where I was going," Demyx answered, sniffing indignantly. "I just gave the impression of being lost to confuse Sora."

"Kind of like you're doing now?" a monotone but exceptionally recognizable voice asked.

Zexion and Demyx both spun. Demyx squeaked and leapt back. "HOLY CRAP!! DON'T HURT ME!!" he cried, hiding behind Zexion.

Zexion rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess it's a surprise to see you here."

"Why?" Demyx demanded. "We were _looking _for him!!"

"Were you now?" Sora asked, looking a little more interested. "How come?"

"To...ummm...well..." Demyx muttered, looking confused.

"Actually, we're not too clear on that. We'll have to ask Axel when we find him," Zexion explained.

Sora frowned. "Axel's here? Oh shit, I hope he hasn't found..."

"AXEL!!" Roxas's voice echoed down the hall, shocked and angry.

"Damnit..." Sora muttered. "Stupid Roxas over-fucking-reacting and giving me a stupid fucking headache," he gripped, moving slowly towards the sound of the voices.

Demyx was still keeping hiding behind Zexion. "Jeez, he sounds angry," the blond noted quietly.

Zexion shrugged. "I don't ask questions of him, he won't ask any of me. Now come on, let's go see the squirt and hopefully keep him from killing our pyro friend."

"...You realize you just admitted that Axel is your _friend_, right?"


End file.
